Let's Play a Game
by Fallaby Z
Summary: Two ruthless killers. One assassin's mission. An arranged marriage. Is it love, or is it all just a game? KamuixOC?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Two Amanto, sitting on a sunny bench just outside a teahouse in Edo. One, a tall man, had his head covered with a straw hat and the other, a woman, was dressed in a similar fashion.

The man took a sip of his tea, grimacing when it scalded his tongue. He shifted in his seat before uttering the code words: "My dick is bigger than yours."

Hiding the snort that rose up in her throat, the woman murmured, "The deposit first."

The man imperceptibly passed a hefty packet into the woman's outstretched sleeve. It jingled, hinting at the valuable gold stocked inside. The woman calmly stifled the noise and slid it further up her sleeve, hiding it inside her cloak.

Taking a bite of the soy-sauce covered dango, the woman crossed her legs, relaxed. "Well? How can I help you today?"

"I need you to kill someone for me."

"Granted. I _am_ a certified assassin, after all." A ghost of a smile danced around her lips.

"Well, yes, but…" The man stumbled over his words before composing himself and taking another large gulp of the hot tea. "There are some…extenuating circumstances. It's not that simple, you know, this person—"

"Oh, that was good," the woman interrupted breezily, finishing up her dango and laying some money beside it. "I'm leaving the money here!" she called to the shop owner. Before standing up, she slipped a folded piece of paper underneath the Amanto man's leg.

After waiting for the woman to leave, the man hid the paper in his fist before slipping into the shadows to read it:

**Meet me at XX address. Destroy this.**

Smirking, he set the slip of paper on fire with his lighter before heading to the address.

It was an old, rickety pub hidden in an alley alcove. The bar did not have a name. When he entered, he was surprised to see a fully-functioning bar like any other. It was dark, but he could see several booths across the room, lit dimly by shaded lights. The bartender nodded once to him, and pointed at the darkest booth in the corner.

Striding over to said booth, he found the woman sipping a bottle of soda daintily as if they were in an ice cream parlor. He noticed that she had what looked like an umbrella next to her, but didn't comment. Although it was a hot day in mid-July, assassins like her always had quirks. Especially the most expensive ones.

"Sit. Order a drink. Make yourself comfortable." Before he could say anything, she called, "One ice cream soda, Sebastian! Make it strawberry!"

_Why would you order a strawberry ice cream soda in a bar?_ The Amanto couldn't help wondering. _And for your customer, no less?_

Sebastian, the bartender, strode over with a foamy pink soda, which the woman proceeded to snatch away and drink. _Well. So much for that._

"So? Your 'extenuating circumstances' were?" When she caught sight of the harried look on his face, she smiled warmly and purred, "Don't worry—we're the only ones here besides Sebastian, and he's a good friend of mine. He won't spill the beans, I promise."

The Amanto heaved a huge sigh before calling to the bartender, "One Dom Peri." Then he turned to the waiting woman. "I need you to kill Kamui of the Yato clan—Captain of the 7th division of Harusame's Thunder Guns and Overlord of Yoshiwara."

The woman whistled. "_Reeeeeally?_ That'll fetch you quite a price, you know." She didn't ask _why_ he wanted him dead—it was the assassin's creed: don't ask, don't tell. Just get the money and do the job.

"I know."

"Any deadlines?"

"…I'll give you a month."

Whipping out an abacus, the woman rapidly flipped the beads up and down before coming to a number. "Your total is 400 million yen, non-negotiable. 100 million up front, 300 million after completion, not counting bonuses. If I die, you give an extra 1 million to Sebastian there. When you receive notice of his death, bring the money to Sebastian—if you try anything funny, be prepared to suffer the consequences." She smiled. "Pay up."

"Wait. How am I supposed to know about his death? It's not as if it'll be in the newspapers, you know."

"I'll send you something of his." She grinned cheekily. "Which would you rather it be? His infamous braid or his manhood?"

"…The braid, obviously." He slapped the money down on the table. "You'd better get this job done. I'm a powerful man, little girl."

He stiffened when he felt a cold blade press up against his neck. "You don't insult the Bloody Sun, weakling. I'm not the best assassin in the world for nothing, you know." Removing the blade from his neck, she pushed him towards the door. "Thanks for the business! Come again!"

After he left, the bartender ran a hand through his golden blond hair. "…He didn't pay for the Dom Peri. He didn't even _drink_ it. What a waste." He downed the cup that was poured out for the customer.

The assassin chuckled. "You think I didn't calculate that? I added it into the money paid up front." She smiled and leaned across the counter. "So, how are we going to execute the plan this time?"

Sebastian frowned. "You're really accepting the mission? Kamui is arguably one of the strongest captains of the Harusame, you know."

"What do you care?" She shrugged lightly. "We're only business partners, after all. You're my informant, and I carry out the job. We split the pay 6:4. You shouldn't be worrying about my life."

Pouring himself another glass of the expensive liquor, Sebastian sighed. "Meiru Asahi, you are really…"

"Don't call me that," Asahi snapped. "The Meiru clan no longer exists." Her gaze softening, she continued, "Call me the Bloody Sun."

Sebastian snorted. "You destroyed the Meiru clan yourself, little brat. And you _still_ insist calling yourself that childish name."

"Well, my name _does_ mean 'the morning sun', anyway…"

"A bloody sun should be the setting sun, idiot." Sebastian poured Asahi a glass of Coke (she never did drink alcohol) and rounded the counter, sitting next to her. "Killing Kamui of the Yato won't be easy, Asahi. Are you sure you want to kill someone that's probably a distant kinsman?" He of course was alluding to the traditional ties held between the Yato and the Meiru (the clan founders were brothers).

Asahi didn't falter as she poured some of her Coke into his half-downed glass, effectively ruining the drink. "I have no kinsmen. They were all weaklings…and dead." She smirked. "They couldn't even stand up to a rampaging twelve-year-old."

"Well, you _are_ crazy strong." Sebastian wrinkled his nose as he tried the Coke-Dom Peri mix. "Fine. But we're splitting the rewards 7:3 this time."

"You miser."

"And proud of it." Sebastian leaned back. "I have a plan to infiltrate you into the Harusame ships, but you won't like it."

"…Spit it out."

"I happen to have a network of 'friends' who are in league with the Harusame. Apparently the Admiral of the space pirates wants to lessen Kamui's stature in the Harusame, since his authority is pretty much equal to the admiral. In short, he wants to distract him."

"Mm-hmm…" Asahi's mind was reeling. This couldn't be good.

"So he's advertising throughout the underground universe for…"

_Oh, shit._

"A wife."

"And you're telling me that I should sign up to be this…this loony baboony's _wife_?"

"Yup."

"His _wife_?"

"Technically, his fiancée, Miss 20-Something-And-Still-A-Virgin." Sebastian cruelly laughed. "Maybe you'll get your first time taken?"

"I really feel like throttling you, _Mr. Shintaro._"

"Hey!" Sebastian snapped. "My name is now _Sebastian_, not that…disgusting country peasant name."

"Argh…" Asahi buried her head in her hands. "How do you know I'll get chosen to be his fiancée? Aren't there, like, benefits to being his wife?"

"Why? You interested?" Shying away from the deadly glare that Asahi gave him, Sebastian shrugged. "Think about it. Kamui is known for being one of the strongest, ruthless killers in history."

"Really?" Hearing this, Asahi's demeanor brightened.

"You didn't _know_?" In response, Asahi shrugged. "You are so out of the loop," Sebastian groaned.

"I thought he was just one of those weirdly strong old guys, like—what's his name, the guy who used to be the Yoshiwara king? Hiruzen?"

"Kamui supposed killed Hiruzen," Sebastian said pointedly

"Oh." Asahi smiled. "OK then, when should we go?"

"You really aren't scared, aren't you?" Sebastian asked wryly.

"Why should I be?" Asahi seemed genuinely confused. "After all, this is just a game to me."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi, so I forgot to put my usual author's note at the top for chapter 1. :( This is just something that I've been itching to write-I'm not sure if it'll end up with Kamui liking her or not, if they get hitched or not, if it's a happy ending, etc. It just feels like Kamui's running around amok in my head or something. (sigh) Hope you like it.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 2<p>

"Come now, Sebastian, be reasonable," I pleaded.

He was making me wear a _kimono_. A _kimono_! I could find over a million reasons on why such restraining clothing was impractical and why wearing my regular black Chinese dress/pants outfit was a much better option.

"_You_ be reasonable. You want to make a good impression, don't you?" He fiddled with the brightly colored obi in the back. "I wish I could dye your hair black to make you look more Japanese, but nooooo…"

I put my hands over my snow-white hair, protecting it. "Don't you dare dye my hair, Sebastian. I swear I will kill you if you touch a strand on my head."

"Fine, Miss Touchy. Just trying to help." Stepping back, Sebastian admired his handiwork. "It'd be better if you had longer legs and bigger boobs, but—"

"Want me to stab you where it hurts? Because that can be arranged."

"You're such a sweetie, aren't you?" the bartender shot back. "Well then, remember to smile and if you actually end up walking down the aisle, you name me as your Best Man, won't you?"

"That's for the groom." Realizing what I was implying, I hurriedly snapped, "But I'm not getting married to such a wacko anytime soon."

"Like _you're_ not such a loon yourself," Sebastian mumbled. "Heck, you killed your own family—"

"That's in the past, Sebastian," I told him quietly, turning away. "It's not one of my proudest moments, anyway."

"Are you Momoiro Asahi?"

Gripping the hilt of my dark blue umbrella, I whirled around. "My name is Abuto," the tall man said. "I'm Captain Kamui's subordinate."

I studied him before dismissing my suspicions. He was probably what he had claimed—especially since he didn't have a left arm, though the empty space was covered up by his dark brown cloak. "Let's go. The Harusame are impatient people."

Following him obediently up the stairwell and into the spaceship, I decided to engage in small talk just in case this "Kamui" character wasn't as interesting as I had anticipated. "So, Abuto-san, tell me about Captain Kamui."

He looked at me from the side, but decided not to comment. Good for him, or else I would have stuck a knife through his heart. "He's the most annoying boss ever. He just likes to fight without thinking, and I have to wipe his ass in the end _and_ clean up the messes he created."

"Just like a mother, huh," I murmured thoughtfully.

"He's like a monster—no, he _is_ a monster," Abuto continued, "but he's powerful and that's all I need. Besides, I'd be too worried about him to resign." He chuckled dryly. "I guess I _am_ like his mom."

He stopped at an iron door. "In you go, Momoiro-san. Guess I'll be calling you Ane-san soon, huh?"

I wasn't comfortable with any of those names, especially since 1) it wasn't real and 2) my "fiancé" would be dead, anyway. "Just call me Asahi."

I pushed open the door.

The simple room, which was dimly lit and only equipped with a large bed and a table, was empty. I noticed a familiar dark purple umbrella sitting forlornly in the corner. Yato, no doubt. I had forgotten.

Steadying my own umbrella cautiously, I stepped inside. The hidden dagger under the black jumpsuit I was wearing beneath the red kimono was cold against my bare skin, and the similar weapon stuck inside my long teal bracelets did the same. Besides those three, I had dozens of other weapons I could employ.

Then, I felt a presence behind me. I quickly drew my umbrella and held it at the neck of the intruder.

It was only until I was sure I had him trapped that I turned around to look.

The first thing I noticed was that he wasn't very tall—Kamui, that is. The Chinese clothing, chiseled arms, and calculated stance was unmistakable; he was Yato through and through. He had a sort of orange-auburn colored hair braided into a long plait, and weirdly cobalt blue eyes.

Sliding my umbrella back into its carrier, I smiled forcefully. He knew that something was up.

Kamui had a clipboard in his hands and was studying it. "So, Miss…Momoiro, was it? Or, more accurately, Miss _Meiru_?"

Though I felt the hairs on my arms stand up, I maintained my cool composure. He was Yato. Of course he would be able to tell—my signature umbrella, my pale skin, my red irises. They were all trademarks of the Meiru clan.

"I didn't think that the so-called 'massacre princess' would come to visit _me_," he continued airily, circling around me. "Quite impressive, you know, wiping out your whole clan at the age of twelve. There've been rumors about you."

"I don't think you should be talking, Kamui-san," I replied, stealthily moving to a position that would guarantee me a better attack—just in case. "After all, you _were_ apparently the one who attempted to kill his renowned father, Umeboshi."

Kamui surprised me by cracking up. "_Umeboshi_? Hah!"

He snickered some more before I asked, "…Is something wrong?"

"My old man's name is _Umibozu_, Asahi-san," he said, probably mocking my way of talking him.

This man infuriated me. I started plotting ways to kill him—nice and painfully slow, or quick and merciless?

"So, when are you planning to kill me? You _are_, right?"

His nonchalant question made me whip my head back to him with a growing smile. Maybe I would keep him alive for a while longer. "Of course, but I guess we'll have to see if you'll kill me first." I shrugged. "Your intent to kill wasn't really masked all that well, you know, Kamui-_san_."

"Hmm, I guess I failed, huh?"

We stood and smiled at each other for a few moments before I broke the silence. "Say, the admiral's getting on your back with the whole marriage thing, isn't he?"

"Oh, Admiral Asshole? Yeah, I suppose. All the women were too weak." He left the sentence hanging, as if to say, _Except you…maybe._

"Want to play a game?" It was what I was best at, anyway.

"What kind of game?" he asked knowingly.

"We go along with the engagement. For one month, since we both don't want to get married to each other. We accumulate points against each other by getting a hit on any part of the body. Whoever has the most points at the ends of the month wins the right to kill the other." I folded my arms. "Think of it as a month-long, drawn-out battle. The one who makes it out alive is the strongest one."

"I guess you'll be the one to die, then," Kamui remarked lightheartedly, "since everybody knows that Yato men are stronger than Meiru women."

"That's why I killed them, you know," I replied, "because they were weak." Letting a smirk grace my face, I continued. "Besides, I'm not afraid to die if I get a good fight in beforehand." Outstretching my hand, I offered, "Deal?"

He took it cheerfully. "Deal."

I crushed every bone in his fingers. He grinned and twisted my wrist with the other.

THE GAME IS ON.

* * *

><p><strong>Mini-chapter-epilogue:<strong>

Abuto: Hey, what happened to you guys? Got rough in bed already?

Kamui: Mind walking into a wall for me, Abuto?

Asahi: You both walk into a wall. My wrist is killing me. *holds it up* See? It's hanging the other way!

Kamui: Oh, my poor fingers…crushed beyond repair.

Asahi: I thought you said that guys were stronger than girls? Well, that'll teach you to be sexist.

Abuto: …Have fun on your honeymoon, guys.

Asahi/Kamui: … (KILL!)

* * *

><p><strong>Reviews are welcome!<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After binding up my wrist and his hand (I noted with significant pleasure that each finger had to be set in a splint), Abuto insisted that we should demote our "game" to verbal tactics only.

"After all," he reasoned, "you guys would just end up lying on two hospital beds with every bone in your body fractured, and what kind of fun would that be?"

We both knew he had a point. We just had a hard time with both our respective prides combined together.

"Well," I commented loudly, "_everyone_ knows that I'll win in the end, so there's no point. Anyway, I'm _fast_ in healing, unlike this weak Yato kid here."

"Well, aren't you racist," Abuto commented dryly, but we didn't pay attention to him.

This too was a battle.

"Don't be ridiculous. It is common knowledge that men will always overpower women," he returned with an airy smile.

"Now that's just sexist," Abuto commented. Again, he was ignored as I heatedly dove forward, aiming my bare foot into his face.

Unfortunately I didn't foresee Kamui wrapping his uninjured hand around my ankle and twisting it. Thankfully, Kamui's mattress provided some cushion for my head as it was smacked down from the force of his yank. Fighting to keep the yell of pain _inside_, I could only watch as Kamui examined my foot, then my ankle, his eyes traveling well down my leg before landing on…

I'll let you figure that part out yourself. (I was going to kill Sebastian for making me wear that damn kimono.)

"Watch out, Kamui. You're going to wake up in the middle of the night with your precious _thing_ surgically attached to your head," I threatened. "Now stop _staring_ or I'll cut your eyes out _myself_!" I am embarrassed to say that my voice cracked into a high-pitched shriek at the end of my sentence. It didn't help that I was half hanging off of his large bed.

To my fury, Kamui nonchalantly tossed my leg to me as if he was throwing away a piece of trash. "I just noticed that your ankle's unusually skinny, not to mention the fact that you're rather tan. Like a country bumpkin!" he exclaimed, as if he'd just made the greatest discovery in the whole wide world.

If he wasn't going to shut his mouth in the next second, I was going to rip his face off. The Meiru clan was less prone to the weakness against the sun compared to the Yato, and was it _my_ fault that I didn't live in a weird spaceship all day and actually _enjoyed_ soaking up some Vitamin D?

"Captain, you probably shouldn't say that to a girl—" I glared at Abuto, who thankfully had the brain to backtrack quickly. "—_beautiful woman_…" I nodded for him to continue as I nursed my already-swelling ankle, grabbing the package of bandages and binding it up quickly. "And didn't I just say to _stop_ being so violent?"

"Yeah!" I added. "You're the man, get some real balls and set a good example for the _wittle girlie_ here, why don't you?"

Proudly, I accepted the bag of ice Abuto handed me as I watched Kamui's eyes darken infinitesimally. "Don't test my patience, virgin girl," his voice lowered dangerously, "or I'll show you how real my balls are…" He left the sentence hanging suggestively, like Adam tempting Eve.

Abuto whistled. "Didn't know you had it in you, Boss!" He received a punch for that.

I felt a shiver run down my spine. I wasn't sure if it was a _bad_ shiver or not…God forbid it be a _good_ shiver. Feeling uncomfortably warm, I squirmed as I felt my cheeks redden.

"I…"

Kamui simpered as he studied me. "What? Did I really get to you, Miss Mary, Quite Contrary?"

I snapped out of the queer haze I was put in and glowered at the _insufferable_ jerk. "No. What made you think of that? I was just…" I scrambled for some kind of excuse. "…ogling that piece of spinach you have on your teeth."

No joke. It was on his front tooth.

As he licked it off with his tongue nonchalantly, I couldn't help but get the wrong idea. _Again._ (Bastard, that stupid, stupid bastard…this was all his fault.) (A/N: It's up to you to interpret whether she meant Sebastian or Kamui.)

To my horror, Abuto noticed and smiled, patting me on the shoulder. "Well, it's getting late now. I'll just…leave you two alone." Did I mention that we were currently in _Kamui's_ freaking room?

Yeah. Thanks a lot, Abuto. I'll make sure to get rid of you after I get to Kamui first.

Immediately crawling towards the already closing door, I didn't stop until Kamui suddenly said:

"You know, they didn't arrange a separate room for you."

I froze. "…Why is that?"

"Because," he said slowly, as if he was explaining something painfully simple to a child, "they want to tie me down by getting me into a marriage. What better way to tie someone down than put a hormonal, thriving male in the same room with a beautiful woman," I fought to keep down the uncontrollable flush from rising up my neck, "likewise, an equally hormonal woman with an Adonis-like countenance such as myself emitting irresistible sexual pheromones."

Mission completed. This guy was an ass.

"In short," I drawled, "they just want us to breed like bunnies and get a 'bun in the oven', as they say. Which is not happening."

"Exactly. Besides, I won't be tied down as silly as something like this." To my surprise, however, Kamui seemed to backtrack, contemplating the idea. "Though, since we're playing the game after all, perhaps it wouldn't hurt for some Meiru/Yato breeding…You do know that our clans have a history of producing several legendary figures…"

He was _really_ thinking about it.

Oh, no. _Hell_ no. Adopting a look of complete horror on my face, I swiftly continued my crawling, ignoring the searing pain in my ankle. I was about to reach the doorknob when, once again, Kamui interrupted my attempt to escape.

"You couldn't possibly be scared to share a bed with me, _right_?" He scoffed when I didn't answer. "So, the girl behind the Meiru Massacre turns out to be a complete _chicken_."

Feeling my pride take a destructive blow, I got up from my crawl and folded my arms as best I could, what with my blame wrist. I was _not_ going to be called a chicken. "Who, me? I'm no chicken. I was just…going to change out of this kimono, that's all." I sniffed, sounding more confident than I felt in reality.

"Your bags are there." He gestured at the luggage in the corner. "There's a connected bathroom _there_." From his languid position on his large bed, he pointed at a door that was partially hidden behind a folding screen. "Go change…I'll see you in bed." Cue the creepy smile.

I felt the hair on my arms raise up as I shivered once more. Grabbing my bag, I dove into the bathroom and slammed the door shut, breathing hard.

I tried to pretend I didn't hear the bastard laughing behind the door.

**15 Minutes Later**

This sucks. This really sucks.

I had taken care to dress in the frumpiest clothes I packed (large plaid pajamas with long sleeves) and make myself as unappealing as possible. It didn't help that I couldn't move as fast with a busted ankle, but I hid a dagger in my sleeve just in case.

Kamui just _had_ to counteract my efforts by stripping to his _pants_. Although I felt slightly disgusted at the pale chest (what is more gross than looking at a guy with creepily pale skin? Huh? You tell me.), my horrible, horrible eyes could not hide the fact that yes, Kamui had a toned, muscular body. Yes, he was hot, in a really weirdly bad-boy way.

"Are you going to just stand there gaping all night?" Kamui asked, breaking my reverie.

I swallowed loudly. "Don't even think about it, mister."

He smiled innocently. "Think about what?"

"You know…" I flushed. "Mass production of superbabies?"

Kamui burst into a round of laughter, throwing his head back and bonking into the headboard. He didn't mind, however, and kept laughing. "You thought I was _serious_?"

My breath whooshed out of me as I relaxed. "You were joking."

"I don't mind doing it if you're up to it, of course, but—"

"Don't you dare, Yato boy," I growled. "You're not touching a hair on my head."

He lifted his hands up in mock surrender. "Fine, I promise."

Suspicious, I raised an eyebrow. "And how often do you honor your promises?"

Kamui's face was sheepish. "Not very often."

"…Thanks for making me feel so much better." Groaning, I hopped carefully to the bed and tugged one of the pillows out from under Kamui's head.

After spreading a jacket on the ground near the door and another on top of it, I crawled in beneath the two and yawned loudly, smacking my lips. "Keep the lights on, stay away, and you'll find your manhood in the same condition tomorrow—got it?"

"Aye aye sir," the jerk in the bed drawled lazily. "Good night."

"I hope you get nightmares," I replied.

The room was silent.

_Peace and quiet. Now I can finally get my well-deserved rest._

NOT!

I _shouldn't_ sleep. Kamui, that pigheaded asshole, could use this opportunity to win the game. He could take advantage of me, maim me, chop me up into little pieces and fry me on a frying pan like bacon!

That's right, I bet he was conniving _right_ now in that awfully soft-looking bed of his…

No. No! You are not thinking of a soft, comfy bed. The ground is enough for you.

Kamui moved, his blankets making a soft rustling noise.

I froze, gripping my dagger.

Was he…? HE WAS!

Peeking out from underneath my jacket, I saw Kamui's body rise up, and then…

_He snored._

Anticlimatic, yes.

Sighing, I fell back onto the pillow.

This was going to be a _long_ night.

**Mini-Chapter-Epilogue**:

(The Next Morning)

Kamui: Rise and shine, people! Hello world!

Asahi: …F*** you.

Kamui: Oh my, you don't look so good, Asahi. Did you not get a good sleep last night?

Asahi: …You're _really_ asking me that.

Abuto: _(walks in)_ Hey guys, what's up—whoa. Did Captain give you a black eye last night, Asahi?

Asahi: (KILL!)

Kamui: And we all lived happily ever after, except for Abuto! The end!

**THE END (of the chapter)**

* * *

><p><strong>Hello everyone! So, I have to admit that I'm just going with the flow here... I have absolutely nothing planned out (I do have a general idea where the story will go, but there are SO many cracks in between).. If you have any ideassuggestions you want to throw in, review or PM me. :)**

**Last but not least, thank you to KyaChann and Jen. ^_^**


	4. Chapter 4

**Edited! Thanks, **Orogoldenpair1 for the suggestions! Hopefully everyone finds this tweaked chapter (minus some of the mistakes I found) better!****

Chapter 4

Dark circles? Check.

Uncooperative hair? Check.

Groggy face? Check.

PMS? Check.

Weird dude staring at me? Check.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked bluntly. In need of some major recuperation from Kamui, I was walking around the frigging ship alone, hoping to find a place to nap. I hadn't slept a wink, thanks to Kamui, who…who…

Damn it! He didn't do _anything_—just light snoring and sleeptalking (he said something like "seeeeeeeell….vurrrr….sayyy….moorye" so loudly that I'd actually jumped up). Worst of all, I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight _either_, since I'd be too jumpy to even close _one_ frigging eye.

Because of the subsequent failures of my plan, plus the fact that I was nearing my "monthly present" (damn you, Mother Nature), I was obviously not pleased when some weird human with his hair partially pulled back into this weird-looking knot (I think it was called a mage or something) popped out in front of me. He was currently eyeing me, rubbing his chin.

"Excuse me, I'm not feeling very comfortable with your creepiness, so if you want your head on your shoulders, smash your head into the wall and let me be," I told him, eyeing him suspiciously. "And what is a human doing on a Harusame ship like this, anyway?"

Oddly enough, the first thing that came out of his mouth was: "I'm not a lolicon, I'm a feminist."

I could only stare at him. "Um, I didn't even ask, and more importantly, _do I look like some flat-chested kid to you?_" Okay, so maybe that wasn't the best thing to say, considering that I wasn't very well-endowed in that department, but…

"Takechi," another voice coming from behind me said, "what are you doing? You're not supposed to be wandering around."

The voice belonged to a man with blue-green hair fluffed up into spikes. He had sunglasses on (though I didn't see the need for them) and a pair of blue headphones. Already I liked his style.

The man stopped in front of me. "It's tango."

_Now_ I was thoroughly bewildered. "_Huh?_"

"I hear a very sensual, fast-paced beat surrounding you, weaving in and out of your soul. It's very whimsical and luring…"

I was compelled to tell him that he was mistaken about whatever was "sensual" about me, but decided to keep it to myself. No need to embarrass myself in front of two strangers.

Suddenly, the man extended his hand to me. "Kawakami Bansai."

I took his hand and gripped it. "…Momoiro Asahi," I said, remembering to use my fake name, "but call me Asahi."

"I'm Takechi Henpeita!" the creeper cried somewhere in the back.

Bansai seemed like he hadn't heard the weirdo's obnoxious cry, and he had no reaction to me punching the baldie. Odd. Maybe his music was turned up too loud or something.

Turning back to Bansai, I asked, "Hey, do you know of any places I can grab a quick nap? I didn't sleep a wink last night, y'see…"

No answer.

Was everybody trying to tick me off? "EXCUSE me? HELLOOOOOOOO?" I called.

He didn't even blink (not that I could tell from behind the dark shades). He just…_stood_ there.

No wonder he and the baldie knew each other. They were both weirdos.

Angrily, I yanked Bansai's earphones off and smashed them onto the floor. "Pay attention to someone when they're talking to you, Bansai-san."

Bansai just stared, and I couldn't help thinking that maybe he was half-deaf from all the music. I was relieved, however, when he finally spoke. "…Nobody has ever had the gall to do that."

Arrogant…not what I needed to hear at the moment. "Well, I'm glad I did, then. Will you answer my question now?"

"You're not normal."

Um, hello? _Anybody_ on a space pirate's ship wouldn't be normal. "Are you even listening to me?" I asked indignantly.

"Would you like to join the Kiheitai?"

I froze. "Uh…care to repeat that for me?"

This time he listened. "Would you like to join the Kiheitai?"

"The Kiheitai…as in that extremist group headed by Takasugi Shinsuke?" As a fellow not-so-honorable person, I obviously knew what the Kiheitai was. "Sorry, right now I'm only interested in finding a good place to take a nap."

"There's the big couch that Shinsuke-san lounges on all the time," baldie (for once) helpfully suggested.

"I…" I started to say, but froze when I heard a familiar voice calling:

"Oyyyyyy…Asahiiii? The Captain sent me to go get youuuuuu…"

Crap. It was the Abuto. I felt a little miffed that Kamui wasn't coming to find me himself and instead sent his well-meaning lackey, but…I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of having 'fetched' me like some item. "OK, I'll take that, just—hurry and get me there!"

Pushing both baldie and Bansai down the hallway, I followed the directions baldie gave me until we got to a room sealed with an iron door. It slid open with the right password, and I stepped in with a sigh of relief as I caught sight of a soft, fluffy-looking purple chaise lounge.

_Perfect_.

Well, except for the fact that I was currently under gunpoint by some blondie with bad fashion sense (she was wearing a hot pink outfit—ghastly). Lucky for her, I didn't kill her immediately.

Unlucky for her, I knew over 500 different ways I could.

"Matako, put your guns down. She's not someone you want to mess with," Bansai said as he brushed pass me to rummage in a backpack. He came out with a duplicate pair of the headphones that I'd just smashed.

Good. Now I didn't have to feel as much remorse (which admittedly wasn't very much, but still).

Obligingly, Matako shoved her guns back into their holsters before looking me over. "Who are you?" she asked warily.

I returned the question to her.

Rolling her eyes, Matako made a sort of strangled noise at the back of her throat. "Kijima Matako, best gunswoman in the Kiheitai."

She ignored Mr. Feminist-Not-Lolicon's comment, "You're the _only_ gunswoman in the Kiheitai."

"I'm Momoiro Asahi—Asahi'll do fine."

"No thanks." Matako folded her arms. "So, what are _you_ doing here?"

Oh, right. I was momentarily distracted from my central objective. Yawning, I flew over to the couch and settled myself comfortably on it after adjusting my umbrella for easy access (you could never be too prepared). As I snuggled into the pillows, I called, "You won't let Kamui or Abuto here, will you, Bansai?"

No answer. While my consciousness rapidly faded into darkness, the last thing I heard was:

"I'm not a lolicon, I'm a feminist."

Psh.

* * *

><p>"Sorry, Captain, I couldn't find her," Abuto wheezed, an unusual sight. He had ran the course of the ship five times, and not once did he find (or even hear) Asahi.<p>

"So she's playing hooky, huh?" Kamui commented, slightly more than irked, though his face didn't betray the rumbling emotions inside his body.

She really knew how to piss him off, didn't he?

He'd _told_ her (or maybe he didn't) at breakfast this morning, that he was supposed to show her off to the rest of the captains (including the admiral) so that they'd finally get off his case and let him be in peace. It was bad enough that the admiral wasn't letting him acquire a license to go to Earth (he'd wanted to check up on the silver-haired samurai), so the _least_ the irritating little prick could do was help him on this aspect.

…She really was interesting, wasn't she?

Kamui wondered what the current score was (he lost track). He supposed, however, that he was in the lead, but just to make sure…

"The meeting is in ten minutes, isn't it, Abuto?"

"Huh? Oh…yeah."

Tapping his umbrella on his shoulder, Kamui stood and grinned. "I guess I should go and find her then, shouldn't I?"

Abuto was shocked. Usually Kamui left the "dirty work" to him, but for him to do something like this out of his own will? Crazy. Unless he had some sort of ulterior motive, which he almost always did…

"Are you crazy, Captain? The ship itself takes even me twenty minutes to circle around!"

Kamui shrugged, already halfway out the door. "You're slow. I'm fast."

* * *

><p>"…Who is this and what is she doing on <em>my<em> spot?"

"I'm so sorry, Shinsuke-sama! I tried to stop her, but she sleeps like a rock and she even _punched _me!"

"Actually, she punched _me_, but—"

"_Shut up, you sick lolicon._"

"She punched you."

"Oh, yes, Shinsuke-sama, she was so fast, I didn't even see it coming. Get my revenge, Shinsuke-sama!"

"Really…"

"_Shit_, that was the wrong thing to say, wasn't it?"

"Yup."

"_Shut up, you sick lolicon._"

* * *

><p>It was <em>loud<em>.

I was still floating in and out of dreamland when I heard a muffled, _"Oi. Wake up."_

Then I felt something coming towards my back (which was wide open), and I instinctively blocked it with my umbrella, yawned, and smacked my lips before going back to sleep.

The same voice said, _"What did you say her name was?"_

Another voice, a whiny but rough female one, answered, _"Momoiro Asahi."_

It was quiet until the first voice replied, _"She's not a human. She's from the Meiru clan."_ There was a low chuckle. _"Interesting…very interesting. Bansai, have you tried recruiting her?"_

Oh…there's Bansai. _"Hmm? Oh, she said—"_

There was a loud bang—from something, I couldn't remember. Then an eerily familiar voice: _"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"_

Who _was_ that?

The first voice sounded wry as he said, _"I thought this part of the ship was reserved for the Kiheitai only?"_

"_I go wherever I want to go,_" the newest voice said simply. _"Besides, you have something of mine that I need to reclaim…"_

There was silence, except for the echoing of footsteps, coming closer and closer…

"_Y'see,_" the familiar voice laughed dangerously, _"you happen to have stolen my fiancée."_

I felt myself being lifted up and, feeling something pressing on my lips, I blearily opened my eyes.

_Crap._ Was this some kind of nightmare or something?

_Kamui_ was _kissing_ me.

And I just sat there, half-awake and confused.

_STUPID!_

Screaming, I punched him swiftly in the cheek and scrambled away, hastily finding my umbrella and pointing it at him. "You—you-!" I froze when I saw the icy, murderous glint in his steely blue eyes. "Kamui?" I asked tentatively.

Striding forward swiftly (he ignored the bruising welt forming on his cheek), Kamui hooked a strong arm around my waist and slung me over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. Though it irked me nonetheless, I allowed him to put me in a vulnerable position, because the moment he whispered, "Don't move, or I'll crush you." I knew that this time, he wasn't joking. It wasn't a game.

He was _mad_. For real. But about what?

"Hey."

We both froze in our steps, and I lifted my head to look at the owner of the first voice. He was rather short, had dark black hair, a bandaged eye, and was wearing loose violet robes, indiscreetly showing much of his chiseled chest.

_Ack._ I embarrassed myself by turning tomato red, and forcibly dragged my eyes towards his face.

"What?" I returned, just as carelessly, though I imagine it may have been somewhat awkward, what with me hanging over Kamui's shoulders.

"My name is Takasugi Shinsuke," the man replied. "Would you like to destroy the world with me?"

Well. What a nice conversation starter.

I opened my mouth to reply, but Kamui spoke for me. "She's not going to work for a dead man."

He swept out the room (through a gaping hole that used to hold the now-crushed door) and into the hallway.

When we were out of earshot, I demanded, "What _was_ that back there?" A torrent of onslaught questions poured forth as I started smacking him on the back. "Why did you wake me up? What are you doing? Where are you going? Why are you mad? What do you have against Takasugi Shinsuke and, most importantly, _why_ the hell did you _kiss_ me?"

Kamui didn't say anything, but I could feel the heat rolling off his back increase exponentially. Finally, I slapped his back once more. "_Answer_ me!"

I was set down so suddenly that I had a head rush. Dizzily, I leaned on the wall, catching my breath. When my vision cleared up, I found myself staring into Kamui's face with his arms on either side of my head.

My senses took in everything at once: his musky smell, his dangerous blue eyes, his curled lip, only an inch away from mine, and most of all, the fury radiating off his entire being.

Gone was the smile. Gone was the playfulness. Strangely, I was…_scared_. This quietly simmering beast wasn't the Kamui I knew.

I snapped back to attention when Kamui started speaking in a low murmur. "Takasugi Shinsuke is going to die." I was about to say something in return, but was silenced by a strange, moody glare.

I felt another shiver travel up my spine as Kamui continued. "He is strong, and therefore competition. He threatened—" He leaned even more uncomfortably closer. "—my pride."

The blush painted across my cheeks, forehead, and probably the rest of my body was bound to become permanent now.

"Why are you angry, then?" I asked, shifting my head in a different angle to avoid being bombarded. "It doesn't make sense."

Kamui frowned, seeming to be thinking it over himself. "He stole what was rightfully mine," he finally said.

I rolled my eyes. This guy wasn't making any sense. "_What_ did he steal? Your underwear? I don't understand you at all, Ka-" He tilted my chin up with his finger as an unspoken answer, and I stiffened as I pieced two puzzle pieces together.

"You mean you think _I'm_ yours?" I shrieked, almost hysterical (in a bad way). "You've got to be kidding me, Kamui, I was and _never_ will be 'yours'."

Kamui wore a cool façade, his lower lip protruding in a nonchalant pout. "The moment you signed on to be my wife, you were mine." He paused and added, "My toy, that is."

The previous (okay, I admit it) arousal that I had felt was quickly replaced with a bubbling rage. "Your _toy_?" I repeated unbelievingly.

He let a short laugh fly loose from his mouth. "Did you think you were anything more?" He chuckled some more before leaning to bump his forehead with mine. "Why? Are you falling in love with me?"

…_Huh?_

After recovering from a short period of shock, I punched him in the gut as hard as I could to send him flying into the other wall. He landed with a satisfactory thud, and infuriatingly smiled at me.

"Don't be such a stiff, Asahi." I didn't like the way he said my name. "After all, this is only just a game between you and me."

_Shit._

Kamui snickered. "Looks like I'm in the lead, honeybunches." Brushing off his clothes, he pushed himself off the crater I had made in the wall. "Oh, by the way, we're supposed to have dinner with the rest of the higher-ups in about five minute, and you're supposed to help me get them off my back. So you should skedaddle and go change into something nice."

I snorted. Like I would do anything for his benefit. "You know what? I think I'm fine just the way I am. Suck on _that_, bastard."

"Maybe I will." Shrugging (and not taking the bait I had dangled in front of him), Kamui brushed past me. "Five minutes, Asahi, in the blue dining room. Be there or regret it tonight."

I tried not to think of the hidden meaning in that sentence.

And _gosh dammit_, what the hell did he _mean_ with that stupid kiss?

* * *

><p>"Oh, hey Captain, find her?"<p>

Kamui glanced at Abuto. "…Yeah, I did."

Abuto peered down the hallway. "I don't _see_ her."

"Hey, Abuto…"

"Yeah, Captain?"

"Is it normal for an Amanto-hating extremist to kiss an Amanto?" Even the memory of Takasugi Shinsuke, leaning over Asahi's sleeping figure made a sick feeling stir in the pit of Kamui's stomach.

Abuto twisted his face in confusion. "Uh…no idea where this is coming from, but if I just take your sentence at face value, then no. Why do you ask, Captain?"

Kamui grinned. "I think I'm really going to have to kill Takasugi Shinsuke after all."

Understanding at once, Abuto sighed and shrugged. "Jealous."

"What?"

"I said, you're jealous."

"I am not jealous. Whoever said that I was jealous?" Kamui asked, genuinely perturbed.

"Uh, me?" Abuto raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're going to—you know, _do away_ with Asahi? Because from the looks of it, you'll most likely miss her once she's gone."

Kamui laughed hollowly. "Don't kid around, Abuto, it's not very funny. Asahi is my prey and my current interest. She'll die off soon enough—that is, after I eliminate Takasugi Shinsuke."

"Don't worry," Abuto told his captain, "if he knows what's good for him, he'll stay away from both you and Asahi." He sighed deeply. "I think I'll miss that little brat once she's dead…can't believe she'll be gone in a month."

Kamui stopped. "Abuto?"

"Yeah, Captain?"

"It's my choice whether to kill her early or keep her alive, so shut the hell up before I kill you first."

"Sheesh. Possessive, aren't y—" Abuto stopped when Kamui's fist was thrust into his face.

"I said, she's a toy. I don't believe in silly emotions like _love_. It only weakens a person."

Abuto grinned weakly. "I never said anything about love, Captain."

There was silence until Kamui let out a soft sigh. "Hey, Abuto?"

"Mmhmm?"

"I would suggest locking your jaw and gritting your teeth—this will hurt."

KAPOW!

**Mini-Chapter-Epilogue**:

Abuto: (sniffles) CAPTAIN HIT ME!

Asahi: _What_? Hasn't he learned his lesson from the punches I gave him?

Abuto: Oh yeah, come to think of it, he was looking kind of bashed up when I saw him. (pauses) _Soooo_, what were you doing with Takasugi Shinsuke, anyway?

Asahi: What? Oh, I was in their—I guess his (Kiheitai's) room sleeping.

Abuto: …You were _sleeping_ in _his_ room?

Asahi: I guess, yeah. I didn't sleep so good with Kamui, so I went looking for a good place to sleep, and he (Bansai) let me.

Abuto: (No wonder Captain got so mad…)

Asahi: Did you say something?

Abuto: Oh, no, no, nothing in particular… (You guys are so emotionally awkward. It pains me to see the two of you like this.)

Takechi Henpeita: I'm not a lolicon, I'm a feminist.

Asahi: No one asked.

Bansai: Buy Otsu-chan's new CD, on sale for only 1000 yen! (roughly 12 USD)

**END OF CHAPTER**

**Author's note**: Okay, so I know that this chapter was most likely confusing, OOC, weird, and made their relationship progress too fast. Either that or you had a serious WTF! Moment.

I CAN EXPLAIN. (No not really, but I can try.)

Asahi does not like/love Kamui in any way. She may find him (slightly) physically appealing, but she harbors no conscious feelings for him at this point.

On the other hand, Kamui is more mysterious, as his treatment towards Asahi changes from "a toy" to "mine". He's a rather possessive person in general and for now generally treats Asahi as his "prey". With Takasugi "kissing" Asahi (he was really only leaning over her to try and wake her up), his natural instinct to monopolize his prey was awakened. However, he unconsciously feels a sort of threat coming from Takasugi in which he could only naturally respond by physical affection (hence the kisses). It's also his way of telling Takasugi to back off (though in the next chapter or so, you can see that he doesn't). Don't worry, I'm not going to pair Takasugi and Asahi together—it wouldn't work at all.

Hopefully I've cleared up a few issues I know will come. Any questions or even criticism? Please review me and I will PM you with some answers.

Thanks for reading, and TY to **KyaChann**, **Jen**, **Angel**, **Flower power.u know u lik it**, **Orogoldenpair1**, and **FaiaDemon**.

I love reviews, and I love repeat reviewers + reviewers of every chapter even more! XO to you all! ^_^

Until then, see you in the next chapter. **If reviews are unsatisfactory, I may decide to rewrite this chapter. Tell me what you think.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello! Well, suffice to say, I did not enjoy writing this chapter. I rewrote it time and time again, and I'm still not complete sure what's going on. I deviated from my original plans because I hated it after seeing the aftermath. Hopefully this is okay... :) Please, please tell me your comments. Good or bad? Hugs to all, enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 5<p>

Kamui of the Yato was a cruel, cruel man.

No. He wasn't cruel—he was just the most insufferable, annoying, hateful, pugnacious, belligerent, stubborn, misogynic, arrogant, conniving _bastard_ I'd ever encountered in my life.

Which was saying something, because I made it a point to blow up my reputation to the point that no one _dared_ to cross me.

Yet this…this _demon spawn_ dared. He played me for a fool!

_He gave me the wrong directions._

Not only did the elusive blue dining room not exist, apparently the entire luncheon would be held at the banquet room instead. After circling the entire ship _running_, I might add, I bent my pride by asking for directions. Then, the Amanto that kindly directed me to the banquet room just _had_ to leave out the fact that the luncheon was in fact in _two weeks_ from today by the time we arrived.

Kamui must have put the man up to it, I knew it. He was probably watching my every move from some security camera and laughing his head off (_oh just you wait, your precious manhood is at stake, you little brat…_)

The scrawny man (he seemed kind of weak, no offense) who followed me to the empty banquet room eyed my growling stomach with pity. "Sorry, Ane-san, I didn't know that the Captain tricked—er, _relayed the wrong information_ to you."

"No shit," I snapped irritably before backtracking as I recalled his sentence. "…You're part of his division, aren't you?"

He saluted sharply. "Ono Daisuke, at your service, Ane-san!"

I narrowed my eyes. "Don't call me Ane-san. I get a sour taste in my mouth just _thinking_ that I'm _engaged_ to that cad." I resisted calling Kamui any other derogatory names in front of his subordinate. Daisuke looked young—younger than me, at the very least. He didn't need his innocent young ears sullied by my harsh language.

Daisuke pouted in a distinctly puppy-dog look before I finally relented. "…Fine. Do what you want."

"Yippee!" Jumping in the air, Daisuke performed an aerial twist that left even _me_ impressed. "By the way, I'm the third in command, after Abuto-san and Captain Kamui. I'm mostly in charge of the strategy, you know, because everyone else is more focused on fighting."

"In other words, they're all brawn, not brains." I smiled lopsidedly. "Well, I'm glad they have a levelheaded guy to follow when Abuto's not there—God knows he already has his hands full dealing with Kamui."

Daisuke studied me, interested. "You really care about Kamui, don't you, Ane-san?"

Whatever was left in my stomach from my stomach was almost regurgitated as I sputtered, "_What?_ Whatever gave you _that_ ridiculous notion? Perish the thought before I give you a concussion."

"Well," Daisuke drawled, "you had this kind of _look_ in your eyes when you talked about Kamui."

Folding my arms, I turned away from him. "That's called intense dislike, Daisuke. Now, if you will—" My stomach chose the right time to make itself (and its emptiness) known, "—lead me to the nearest kitchen."

"Right-o, Ane-san!"

"…I hate that name."

* * *

><p>(Kamui's POV)<p>

"Hey, Abuto," I called across the room as I toyed with the end of my braid, "ya think she'll be here yet?"

Abuto sighed. "You're really mean, you know that? Don't blame me when she comes in screaming bloody murder. I _told_ you this wasn't a good idea in the first place, tricking her like that."

It was an honest mistake…at first. I _had_ thought that the lunch was today, but when I realized that I had the dates mixed up, I decided to go with the flow, and see her hilarious reaction when she found out that she'd been had.

I chuckled to myself. Yes, she'd be here any moment now, bursting through the door breathing heavily, red-faced and her white hair swirling around her in loose braids. Then, we'd fight and everything would be normal again. The kiss would be forgotten, because it was nothing significant anyway—merely a lapse in judgment. My temper was only incited by Takasugi's own formidable power, and I'd rightfully taken it out on my fiancée just to show her that she was in no position to be traipsing around the ship like some loose woman, and to show my own power to Takasugi.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Though I didn't particularly enjoy that condescending smirk on the incompetent bastard's face as we left the room.

Anyways, he'll be dead soon enough. What was important _now_ was riling Asahi up again—she really was entertaining to watch. Some assassin she made; I was willing to bet that she had mostly forgotten about her mission in the first place, though you could never underestimate a Meiru woman.

I waited patiently for about ten more seconds before hopping off my bed. "She's not here, Abuto. You think she's still looking for the blue dining room?"

"Maybe she's avoiding you," Abuto suggested oh-so-helpfully. I stretched my grin even more, testing him. Abuto hurriedly backtracked. Smart boy. "…Or, she's still running around in a frenzy."

Standing with a sigh, I acted as the helpful advocate and remarked, "I suppose I should find her now, shouldn't I?"

That annoying girl. First she fraternizes with the enemy, and then she just runs off and makes the Great Me chase after her.

If she was off dawdling with some other man, _wasting my own time_, she was going to get it.

**30 Minutes Later…**

She was going to get it.

I leaned casually on the metal doorjamb of the kitchen, watching the girl guzzle a large bowl of meat…with _Ono Daisuke_. My strategist and third-in-command. "So, Daisuke, whatcha doing?" I chirped, grinning.

He turned calmly, as if he hadn't done anything wrong. "Oh, Ane-san here was hungry, so I took her to the kitchens."

Although the way Asahi's face screwed up when he said 'Ane-san' made me slightly less irritated, I was still angry. Why? She wasn't talking to me. _At all._

I hated being giving the cold shoulder more than anything else.

Plus, I wasn't about to leave my perch by the door. No, she was going to talk to _me_ first.

Asahi nonchalantly continued to gorge herself on food, and, to my disgust, started making small talk with Daisuke, who obligingly followed along (though I was pleased to see him cast a few concerned glances in my direction).

Finally, Daisuke poked her in the shoulder (to which she smacked him upside the head), suggesting, "Um, Ane-san? Your…er, Captain's here, you know."

Asahi grunted in assent and continued slurping her bowl of soup (she'd cleaned off the meat long ago). The ignoring continued.

Adopting a hilarious deer-in-headlights look, Daisuke elbowed Asahi even more urgently. "Um…hey, are you listening to me? Ane-san? Hello?"

I snapped the same time Asahi did. In a blur of movement, I dove for her neck and was pleasantly surprised to see her gloved hand poised to break my own. The other hand was gripping her umbrella, whose point was pointed at the center of Daisuke's forehead. However, the other side of her neck was being barraged by a sharply curved dagger.

Asahi broke the silence first. "…You stole my dagger." Directed to Daisuke, obviously.

Daisuke shrugged. "Hey, you were about to kill me, and besides, you have about thirty or so more hidden in your clothes, _and_ your hair."

Quickly retracting the umbrella (but her hand not leaving its place near my neck), Asahi waited for Daisuke to return the dagger before grudgingly turning to me.

"…Get your filthy paws off my neck, you mangy mutt."

"Likewise, kitty cat."

* * *

><p>(Asahi's POV)<p>

Kitty. He called me _kitty cat_. Not only did it ring distinctly of some kind of pampered girly girl, it was like…a pet name. An _intimate_ name. Well, it only upped his schmuck status even more, in my opinion.

_Didn't he get the message that I did _not_ want to talk to him at the moment?_

Ah, he was probably one of those clingy guys. Grinning, I levelly stared at him (wasn't hard—we were about the same height). "You were _lonely_, weren't you?" My grin widened when I saw something flicker in his midnight blue eyes. "You missed me when I didn't return immediately. You're such a girl."

I watched with glee as his face darkened for about a second before reverting to his normal smiley mask. "Hm. Really."

Surprising me, his hand left my neck and reached up to intertwine with mine, which was still poised three or four centimeters away from yanking out his windpipe. I froze.

_He was trying something._

"I didn't know you felt that way…" His normally perky voice lowered to a husky baritone, and I could only stare. Okay, so he wasn't a girl (I suddenly became very aware of the defined muscles and chiseled jawline that I lacked), but I wasn't going to back down.

_Stupid!_ You weren't going to let him kiss you again, were you? Anyways, what was _with_ his moodswings? I had no idea what was running through his mind at the moment, but his pride was most likely dented (ha!) and he wanted some kind of payback.

Not that I was going to let him get his stupid way. Idiot.

Ignoring the heat that crawled up my neck, I thrust his hand away and sat back down at the kitchen table. "Go away, Kamui. For all I know right now, I'm pissed at you and I'm not going to talk to you until you apologize."

I was secretly glad he hadn't brought up the fact that I was currently talking to him. Instead, Kamui snapped, "Fine. You do that. We'll see how long you can go without talking to me." And, being the diva he was, whirled around and stomped out the kitchen in an unnatural rage.

I felt a little childish doing this, but I yelled, "FINE!" and called him the most derogatory name I knew.

Daisuke just stared at me, smiling in this weird way like he knew something was up. Which was totally untrue, since there was nothing "up". I glared at him. "What?"

"You _liiiiiike_ him," Daisuke teased.

I just stared at him, unblinking. For a so-called "strategist", he sure was an idiot. Opting a non-violent course of action, I shoved a loaf of bread in his mouth. "Eat, shut up, and blow up that train of thought right now."

Daisuke laughed, taking the baguette out of his mouth. He sobered, though, and hopped up to sit on the metal counter. "No, really, Ane-san, you shouldn't treat Captain Kamui so meanly." _And he doesn't treat _me_ mean?_ "He was just teasing you…probably."

Uh-huh. Yeah right.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, I think I deserve this peace and quiet, and I'm going to enjoy my time away from that sadistic bastard." Taking a large hunk out of my own bread roll, I asked, "Does he have these kinds of confusing emotion whacks often? I mean, _shit_, he's like on a 24-7 PMS rampage or something. Even _I'm_ not that bad, and I'm already on my monthly present, if you know what I mean…"

Daisuke finally seemed to be on my side for once. "Oh, yeah! Captain Kamui's moodswings _always_ confuse everybody…only Abuto-san seems to be able to handle him, but sometimes even _he's_ confused. You know, there was this one time where he…"

* * *

><p>(Kamui's POV)<p>

She had nerve.

After walking down the hall and around the corner, I waited for a couple of seconds, expecting her to run out and plead for my forgiveness.

But _no_, instead I was called a name that I would _rather not mention right now because then another wall would be crushed to pieces._

Ungrateful bitch.

I yanked my hair out of its tie, studying it hatefully. Maybe I should cut it off…

…Was I actually _influenced_ by her snarky "girl" comment? HAH!

I was seriously considering ambushing her in the dark of the night and humping her silly until she retracted her words, but because we were currently ignoring each other, that wouldn't work.

Hmm…

"Captain Kamui!" I turned as Abuto ran down the hallway. "We're being sent to Earth. To look for Kujaku Hime Kada and take her back for imprisonment."

"What'd she do?" I asked, half-listening.

"Steal money. We're going to Earth."

At this, I perked up. I hadn't been allowed to grace the Land of the Samurai after the Hiruzen incident, and I wanted to pay a visit to the Silver-Haired Samurai.

"How long?" I replied after a moment of thought.

"As long as it takes."

I grinned. This'll teach the girl. I'd leave her alone, and being the only person she really knew on the ship, she'd get so lonely that she'd jump into my arms when I returned. Then, she wouldn't associate with enemy mushbrained bastards, and she'd be all _mine_.

To beat up, of course. Wouldn't want to come home to her killed by somebody else.

_Operation: Make Asahi Miss Me_, start.

**Mini-chapter-epilogue**:

Abuto: So, what's with you and Asahi now?

Kamui: Oh, we're ignoring each other.

Abuto: Why?

Kamui: Well, she's mad since I tricked her and made her virtually circle the entire ship on an empty stomach, and I'm mad because she was eating with Daisuke.

Abuto: …You are such a needy, jealous bastard.

…And you're such a girl.

Kamui: …

Abuto: …Er, Captain? (laughs nervously) _Captain_?

(silence)

Abuto: Aw, gosh darnit, now you're ignoring _me_, aren't you? (pauses) Diva. (another pause) Well, at least you're not punching me silly like last time.

Kamui: …(KAPOW!)

**Sorry, Abuto. All the violent gags end up being sucky for you.**

**END OF CHAPTER**

* * *

><p>So people, what'd you think? Horrible? So-so? Comment in a review! Also, just on a whim, what do you guys think of Ono Daisuke? (The name sounds oddly familiar...if he's an actor, forgive me, I didn't mean to copy.) I want Daisuke to be a sort of venting tool for Asahi, like how Kamui takes out his frustrations on Abuto (and anyone else in the vicinity).<p>

Explanation for Kamui's weirdoness: I'm thinking that Kamui's a little affronted that Asahi would rather hang out with other guys rather than him, and, as he thinks of the whole engagement as some sort of contract that allows him to possess Asahi as an item. He doesn't like the fact that she treats him as more of a boy or, even worse, a girly boy, and he's envious of the other boys that she gets along with. So, the only way he knows how to fight back is either 1) seduce her 2) ignore her and hope that she reacts 3) tease her/abuse her/trick her. Except of course she reacts the wrong way.

He THINKS that she'll "jump into his arms", but just you wait... The next chapter or so will be centering on Asahi and her meeting with the rest of the seventh division...and you know that there'll be trouble. I'm also planning to introduce a couple more OC's, maybe some love rivals? We'll see!

If anyone asks, yes, I'm following the timeline where Kamui is tricked by the Harusame and is (almost) killed by Takasugi.

**WANNA SEE MORE CHAPTERS? REVIEW!** (I'm so embarrassing for asking this... =_=)


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the delay. There's an explanation on the Meiru Massacre. I know, abrupt, but I wanted to get it out there and I didn't know how else. In case anyone asks, YES, I made up the whole "deep" (haha) reason of the moodswings from ch 1 and 2 on the spot. =_= SO if it's cliched, funky-sounding, or whatever, that's my excuse.**

**Goodbye! xo, hugs, enjoy, all that cordial stuff.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 6<p>

When I ran out of things to do, I went back to Kamui's room to find a note (from Abuto) say that—BLISS!—they were going to be on Earth for an undetermined amount of time, and that I was free to use "Captain Kamui's" bed as I wished.

While I was slightly averse to using my arch nemesis's "sleeping utensil" (did the demon even SLEEP? At ALL? Wait, he did when on our first night together…that just sounds wrong), it was better than sleeping on the hard floor, and, hey, I got over things fast.

Watching out for any potential booby traps (I know, I'm paranoid), I changed into my pajamas and slid cautiously into the large, fluffy bed. I bounced on the mattress warily, and then lifted up the pillows to check for any bombs. I also crawled to the foot of the bed to look for spiders.

Satisfied that, oddly, there wasn't anything to jump out and scare the life out of me, I did my customary before-sleeping preparations (i.e. strapping extra daggers to body parts, sticking a small revolver under the pillow, etc.) and turned off the light, snuggling into the fluffy blankets.

The warm, musky and slightly cinnamon-y smell from the entire bed pervaded my senses, allowing me to sleep peacefully. _Wow,_ I thought, _the Harusame really love their captains. Perfume sprayed onto the bed? Really?_

It was only after I'd woken up that I realized that the smell was from Kamui himself.

**Edo, Earth – 29 Hours Later**

"…Aniki?"

"Whoops, wrong turn, let's go, Abuto!"

"ANIKI YOU IDIOT BASTARD, COME BACK HERE!"

"Um…if I'm right, is that your sister, Captain?"

"…Oh, I didn't see you there, Little Sister, where's that silver-haired samurai you're always with?"

"He's at the morgue. NOW LET ME PUNCH YOU SILLY!"

"…The morgue? Um, so he's _dead_? _What are you going to do, Captain?_"

"…Captain? Mini-captain? Uh…where'd you all go? HELLO?"

**At the Same Time**

"Gin-san, why are we at the MORGUE of all places?"

"Hey. It's a job. Job equals to money, money equals to the cha-ching that we don't have. Now get moving."

"I—ugh—why am _I_ stuck with lugging all these coffins around? You're just _sitting_ there!"

"I'm the boss, and what the boss says rules. Any questions? No? Now hurry up—my allergies are acting up with all this stupid dust."

"Ugh…_why me?_ Where'd Kagura-chan go, anyway!"

"Oiiiii…Ane-san? What are you doing?" Daisuke asked tonelessly as he gazed upward at me.

Looking at him upside from my perch on the ceiling rafters (I'd found a comfortable perch and was currently wrapped around it), I called, "Morning exercises."

Gripping the bar with my hands, I uncurled myself and started doing some chin-ups and flips. "This is really great!" I told Daisuke conversationally. "I ought to have something like this installed in my room back on Earth."

"What's your home like, Ane-san?"

Home, huh? I guess I didn't really have a place to call "home", since I destroyed the only one I had.

"Er…" I let go of the bar, landing on my feet. "Well, it's just a ratty hole-in-the-wall, really. Nothing fancy, but I like the quiet."

"Huh…" Daisuke smiled. "What about your old home, Ane-san?"

I furrowed my brow, puzzled. "What old home?"

"Oh, you know, the one that you destroyed…the old Meiru city."

Strategist, huh? This kid was no joke. I forced a slight smile onto my face. "Why don't we talk about that over breakfast?"

Satisfied, Daisuke nodded. "Sure, my treat."

In the kitchen, I bored holes in my bowl of porridge. Daisuke nudged me in the foot impatiently. "Well?" he asked. For a smart guy, he sure didn't have a mite of patience.

I sighed. "So what do you want to know? You definitely researched my background, for reasons I don't know, and you know that I'm from the Meiru clan."

Daisuke spooned some fruit into his mouth, shifting his glasses so they perched higher on his nose. "Well, it's my job to protect the captain against people who want to hurt him, so I obviously did some background checks on you. I was surprised—well, not really, since I kind of expected it—that you were an assassin, but since Captain Kamui was okay with it, we're all okay with it."

"We?" I echoed.

"The crew." Daisuke shrugged, waving my question off. "Spit it out. Give me the dirt on the Meiru Massacre. Did you know, it's _really_ famous in the underworld—_everyone_ knows about it, and _everyone_ knows about you, well, except maybe our idiot admiral, but that's beside the point."

I rolled my eyes, downing the contents of the bowl in one gulp and reaching for another. "The so-called 'Massacre' is my best and worst triumph, Daisuke, but you're a nice guy, so I'll try to condense my story as much as possible. Chances are, though, it'll be drawn out, so try not to fall asleep on me."

Daisuke pulled out a notebook, his pen poised over the paper.

"And no writing it down. The incident's not exactly hush-hush, but I don't feel comfortable with it. It's not something I really want to remember, and I don't need you rubbing into my face every single minute with it on paper."

Daisuke frowned, but put away the notepad obligingly. "So, how can it be your best and worst triumph? Isn't that an oxymoron?"

I leaned back in my chair, brooding. "A lot of things in this world seem like an oxymoron, but it happens." I took a deep breath and began:

_My father, the strongest of the Meiru, had died several months before I was born, and my mother died in childbirth, leaving me: the strongest Meiru and princess to the clan. I didn't miss them—the whole clan was my family, I suppose. They took care of me lovingly and put me on a pedestal above all others, though they only allowed me to truly associate with a certain few. One of those few was Shintaro, and he was my best friend, and though he was several years older than me, he didn't mind that I was stronger than him. We were two peas in a pod, and were practically attached by the hip, maybe because we were both orphaned (though he still had his mother). _

_Shintaro was always laughing, always funny, always spying on people. He knew everything that went on in the entire city. He was such a gossip. I wished I was like him sometimes…all of the time. It was easy for me to get anything I wanted but it was harder for me to communicate with the others. I was embarrassed to show my feelings for the rest of the Meiru—I loved them. I loved them like family, and they _were_ family to me, until I found out._

_I guess I was naïve then. I didn't realize how strange it was for me to be isolated in the same city throughout my childhood, presumably for the rest of my life, maybe. I didn't realize how strange it was for me to be the only one able to recklessly destroy random buildings, or the only one wielding an umbrella. I didn't realize that I was the only one with white hair and reddish irises, trademarks of the Meiru, until Shintaro accidentally told me:_

_Shintaro was a half-blood—his hair is lighter than most others, and his eyes are a dark shade of maroon, a result of his tainted blood. I was a pureblood. And I was the last living pureblood Meiru in the world._

_The "family" that posed as Meiru clan, that surrounded me in "loving" arms, was a smaller denomination of the Yato that was much weaker, called the Reito. They hated the Meiru for killing their warrior leader, and so they ambushed us at in the dark of the night with the help of a Meiru spy—Shintaro's dead father. My mother, and I in her womb, was held hostage, and my father had no choice but to hand the Meiru over to them under the condition that my mother and I would be kept alive. _

_My father murdered Shintaro's father in retaliation at the last minute, but the rest of the Reito took advantage of this and killed _him_ while his back was turned. Then, one by one, they killed the rest of the Meiru, leaving only me and my mother, until at last she too died, but of natural cause._

_They isolated me from the rest of the world in an attempt to mold me into a weapon. They trained me into an unorthodox combination of Meiru, Yato, and even some ninjutsu. I became lethal, even as a seven-year-old. They were confident, too confident, that as I recognized them as my family, that I would never betray them, never turn my back on them, never kill them._

_But they were wrong. They didn't think that Shintaro would tell me, even as a slip of the mouth. When I found out, I was angry—no, I was furious. The beast within me took over, and, without thinking, I destroyed Shintaro's left eye. But it wasn't enough. I turned tail and went throughout the village, breaking into homes, and killing left and right. I went berserk, and I didn't stop until everything—everything!—was coated in deep, scarlet red. Immersed in bloodlust, I remember standing amidst a heap of mangled corpses, and across from me, I saw Shintaro. He was carrying his mother's crumpled body._

_The horrifying sorrow on his face will forever be ingrained into my mind._

_I decided to leave him alive, taking his destroyed eye symbolizing the death of the Reito in him. We left for Earth together, but it was different now. I had destroyed Shintaro's family, and I destroyed his home. I destroyed our friendship._

_From that day on, Shintaro—no, Sebastian and I, we work together as assassin and informant. He still has not completely forgiven me of the massacre, but he is kind to me all the same—much kinder than he should be. Still, he doesn't smile and I know he resents my killing of the only family he had left: his mother._

I sighed, concluding my story. "I don't regret killing the last of the Reito; of that, I am proud of. But when I think of my childhood with the happy Shintaro, and when I look at the tainted, haunted 'Sebastian' he is now, I feel a deep guilt. It was my fault that Sebastian lost his left eye, and with it, lost a part of his sanity. That, I suppose, is my oxymoron."

Daisuke whistled, leaning back in his chair. "Wow. That is some story."

I shrugged. "It happens. Yes, it's dramatic, but it happens, especially when you have a monster living in you." As an afterthought, I added, "I guess that's why I took a job as an assassin. The Meiru take relish in bloody, physical jobs. Assassin missions rely on speed and effectiveness, thus we dabble in pressure points and poison and the like."

"Huh. Cool."

Unbelievingly, I stared at Daisuke. "_Cool?_ You think this is _cool_? What planet do you come from, pray tell?"

Laughing, Daisuke reminded me, "Hey, I'm in the 7th Division—_nobody's_ normal here, trust me." He stood abruptly. "Reminds me, I needed to introduce you to the others." Taking my hand, he pulled me out of the kitchen and into the hallway insistently.

"So, what are they like?" I asked, trying not to trip on his shoes.

"Oh, 50% of them are buff, violent idiots, and 48% of the rest are incredibly twisted and competitive idiots."

"And the other 2%?" I asked.

"They're the batshit crazy idiots. That includes the captain."

"So, I'm guessing you're also batshit crazy?"

"Yup. Wait 'till you meet Akio; he'll try to kill you upon first sight. He _hates_ women like you."

"…Great, thanks for the heads-up…"

"All in a day's work, right?"

* * *

><p><strong>Mini-Chapter Epilogue<strong>:

(On Earth)

Kamui: Hey, Abuto.

Abuto: Yeah?

Kamui: Do you think Asahi misses me?

Abuto: Do you want me to be honest or do you want me to lie and salvage what's left of your humongous pride?

Kamui: … (smiles)

Abuto: Shit, I let my mouth run again. Er…Captain? Stop smiling at me like that.

Kamui: (pauses) Do you think Asahi misses me?

Abuto: Uh, sure! (grins)

Kamui: …Really? (grins) Okay!

Abuto: PSYCH! (runs away) I can't believe you believed me! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OWNED!

Kamui: …(ANGRY FACE!)

* * *

><p><strong>Yippee! Abuto finally wins a round!<strong>

**Here's the approximate score:**

**Kamui: 124928349238472384293482, Abuto: 7**

**(If anyone's wondering, Kamui and Asahi have an about-even score, but Kamui is leading by a few points. Not for long!)**

* * *

><p>The next chapter will be on Asahi's meeting with the rest of Division 7, and the appearance of Kamui's rival. Bwahahaha. He'll get a nice surprise when he comes back.<p>

Sorry if this chapter wasn't really as fun, or if it was boring, or just crap, or whatever. I've had this sitting around for a while now and just didn't get a chance to upload it. I've started on the next chapter already, I predict that if all goes well, it may (?) be out next week? School started, so I'm not going to be as quick (...) with my updates now.

I was originally planning on ending the story when Kamui leaves to go with Takasugi (and presumably Asahi) to Earth, but I think I might drag it on a little bit longer...who knows?

ALSO! A minor **spoiler**: I might be making a little section/a chapter in Kamui's perspective while's he's on Earth. I have this idea for him to be talking with either Gintoki or Kagura (online), not knowing that it was them, and...:) Well, you'll just have to read to find out WHAT he asks and WHAT HAPPENS afterwards. ^_^

THANK YOU for the reviewers of the story...I know I haven't done a shout-out in awhile (at least that's what I thought) and I kind of have to run so let's just put it this way: YOU REVIEWED. I LOVE YOU. You want more love? Review some more. :P

Cheers!


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay guys, I know that the last chapter was full of cliches. Yes. I know. :( Sad face, but hey: I AM NOT A FABULOUS WRITER LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. Case in point: this chapter sucks. (eep!) Kamui was really messing with my mind today... but hey, any critique? review and I'll change the chapter to make more sense...**

**WARNING: more cliches abound? and some sexual references...**

* * *

><p>Chapter 7<p>

I learned the hard way that when there are good things, there are usually almost always bad things that come along with it.

Pessimistic, yes, but true.

The _good_ thing about this situation was that 1) I fulfilled my "fight" quota for the day, and 2) Kamui wasn't there to bug me. (he hadn't been on the ship for about five days now) Oh, and 3) a bed (that smelled pretty damn good).

The _bad_ thing was that the 2% of batshit crazy idiots (excluding Abuto, Kamui, and Daisuke, of course) were gunning to kill me, inciting the 48% evil, competitive idiots to attempt to beat them at their own game (which was to kill me), leading the last 50% to just "go with the flow".

In other words, they were all charging for me, right at this moment.

We were in the huge barracks of the 7th Division, which apparently served as a training room as well. Facing the large crowd, I mentally dissected the faces to see which ones to watch out for and which were the easiest to take out.

After all, it seemed that force was the only way to get the fact into their heads that _I was not someone to be messed with or jumped upon at a moment's notice._

Though I badly wanted to irk Kamui when he got back, I decided to knock out as many as I could and therefore could not use many of the techniques I usually employed. As I unsheathed my umbrella, I steadied my stance and tightened my calves, waiting for the right moment…

_Now!_

Propelling myself off the floor in a strong jump, I leapt onto a hanging bar and kicked myself off into the crowd, knocking out four in the process. After that, it was easy.

Kick to the stomach. Out. Heads knocked together. Out. Twisted arm. Out. Shot with umbrella. Out. Broken ankle. Out. Pressure point. Out. Random sleeper hold? Definitely out.

After a solid fifteen minutes, I found myself standing amidst a heap of unconscious bodies (or maybe just people who gave up). My breathing was even and steady, and there was the slight sheen of sweat on my face that suggested that I was just "warming up". Which was a fact.

Fortunately, something had happened that had the 50% idiots to gang on the 48% evil idiots, lessening my work. Unfortunately, nobody dared to touch the 2% batshit crazy ones, who (to my annoyance) just _stood at the side_ as if they _hadn't started anything in the first place_. (Again, with the "good things come with bad things" saying.)

More accurately, the damn person who incited this all was a guy. Akio. (He is going on my hit list after Kamui, damn him.)

Daisuke had brought me to the barracks after breakfast, and the moment I stepped in, everyone just went…silent. Like, I could _hear_ all the hoots and yells and raucous noise that generally come with barbarians and space pirates, but once I stepped into the room, everyone just stopped and _stared_.

It was awkward to the point that I considered bolting out the door and running down the hallway (even though running isn't really my kind of thing). Then, Daisuke broke the silence.

"Er, guys, meet Meiru Asahi." I noticed that he didn't bother concealing my last name, which meant that everyone already knew about my background as an assassin. "Ane-san, meet…_the guys_."

Suddenly, a tall, quite aristocratic-looking man with chiseled, angular features stepped forward with a crude frown. Unlike the others, who wore some kind of neutral color or a shade of army green, everything he wore was completely black—from his shirt to his pants and combat boots. Even his short, smooth hair and his eyes were a glossy jet black. Against this dark backdrop, it only made his pale skin appear even whiter. In fact, he looked like some sick form of a death god.

So we just stood there, engaging in a fiery staring contest. I lost only because a mite of dust flew into my eye, obstructing my willpower with the unbelievable urge to blink.

"Hi." Amiably, I extended my hand to shake. "Call me Asa—"

Interrupting me as if I wasn't even there, he turned to Daisuke. "Worthless. Why hasn't Captain killed her yet?"

The statement angered me for multiple reasons. The obvious one was that he was ignoring me (read: acting like I didn't exist), which also meant that he was demeaning me and generally the entire female race in general. It also meant that he thought that the Meiru name was "worthless", evidently since he didn't think that I could stand up to his beloved Captain.

_Oh, you're going down, buddy._

I prided myself on my stealth skills as I managed to sneak up behind him and press a sequence of pressure points, rendering him stunned. Then, I promptly dislocated his dominant arm (left) and added a leg to his ribs for good measure.

Everyone froze again—even Daisuke, who just gaped at me. Then, I heard a guy call jokingly, "You're in trouble now, Ane-san! Only Captain can do something like that to him!"

Did that mean that _I_ wasn't allowed to hit somebody? Did that mean that _I_ wasn't as strong as Kamui?

Swiveling on my heel to go sniff out whoever said that, I stopped when I heard Akio say, "_Get her._"

Surprised, I turned back to see him popping his shoulder back into his socket as if nothing had happened, and now everyone was stampeding toward me. I noticed that Akio started walking towards the back of the room, maybe to get some first aid.

So now, with all these people on the floor, I lightly used my umbrella as a walking stick to stride over to Akio, who was being bandaged by some chick (who, by the way, eyed me jealously—she was definitely into Akio, snappy looks and all).

"Hey." I leaned on the bunk bed casually, as if I hadn't just beat up over half the 7th Division. "What's up?"

He eyed me and I did the same, calculatingly reserved. He seemed to approve of my fighting style, and grudgingly assented that I wasn't as worthless as he thought me to be. I silently apologized for his injuries with a slight nod. He seemed to sour at the apology, however, and I shrugged.

The girl (a tall, lean girl with dull brown hair but the most beautiful ice-blue eyes) was oblivious to our telepathic exchange. "How can you _say_ that?" she demanded angrily, coming to her lover's "defense".

I raised an eyebrow, unfazed by her fire. "Say what? 'What's up?'"

A loud breath whooshed out of her as she huffed, turning red. "_No!_ I meant, how can you act so _casual_ after _hurting_ Akio?"

Why was this girl in the 7th Division? And why the hell was she even classified as batshit crazy?

…Oh, she was "batshit crazy" for Akio, which made her an idiot. I see now.

"All part of the business, girlie; get used to it, and besides, your boyfriend doesn't seem to mind." I waved her indignant (and increasingly red) expression off airily and instead stuck my hand out to shake. "Call me Asahi."

Out of apparent obligation, she shook it firmly. I felt her hand (not in a creepy way) as I shook it. Smooth, soft, no trace of callouses and scrapes that existed on mine. Her grip wasn't limp, but it wasn't very strong either. I wagered that she wasn't in Division 7 for her fighting skills.

"Hiyori," she answered, her voice suddenly demure. "Asakusa Hiyori." Suddenly, her hand shot out and I saw her aiming for a lethal pressure point.

Calmly, I sidestepped her and locked her in a chokehold. "Healer," I confirmed. "Knowledge mostly in herbal remedies and plants, none of which would be very useful in a space pirate division focusing on brutal fighting. Your combat style relies on pressure points, but that's hard because you're rather gangly for a girl and aren't very fast." I frowned. "So why are you here, anyway?"

Grinning, I stole a glance at Akio and coughed loudly. "Besides the obvious, I mean." Amazingly, Akio didn't seem to catch my hint, even as Hiyori squeaked and started struggling in my arms.

After I let her go, she scrambled to Daisuke, who had hopped atop another bunk bed. "My _grandfather's_ part of the elders," she snarled, fuming.

Aha. I exchanged a look with Daisuke. So she was there because of the _connections_. Huh. Didn't think that Kamui was pathetic to _that_ extent.

Another female voice saved me from answering meanly by saying, "Oh, get that stick out of your ass, she was just being friendly."

I shifted my gaze to the shocking, overly teased ponytail of the most electric blue I'd ever seen. I grinned. Now _this_ was what I was talking about.

She seemed to favor eye-popping colors, since there was a bright yellow streak painted on the side of her cheek, and though she was dressed in a dark jumpsuit, she painted her fingernails neon pink and accessorized with bangles and a loud, clunky necklace.

"Hey, Ms. Captain," she greeted cheerily, pumping my fist up and down energetically, "I'm Teru. How's Captain doing?"

I rolled my eyes. "Last time I saw him, annoying as usual. It's fine if you call me Asahi—Daisuke's bent on the whole 'Ane-san' thing, but—" I broke off.

Teru just smiled. "But you're not going to be our Ane-san after one of you kills the other. I get it." Changing the subject smoothly, Teru took my hand (I took note of the set of pistols on her hips) and led me around the room to the "survivors". "Let me introduce you to the crew—well, the uninjured ones."

First was, oddly a little boy. He was even shorter than me, and looked to be about ten or eleven. Looking up at me with the most adorable frown, he blinked his humongous violet eyes at me. Teru grinned at my reaction. "This, my friend, is Tsubasa. He's our mascot."

"I am not!" Tsubasa declared, annoyed. "I'm the fourth-in-command!"

I was surprised at first, but I attributed his apparent power to some kind of Amanto blood I wasn't familiar with. "I see." I extended my hand to shake. "I'm Asahi."

He rolled his eyes, impatient with my "unnecessary antics". "I _know_. Kamui's been raving about you ever since you've came, Ane-san."

"_Raving?_" Teru snorted. "A more accurate definition is 'affectionate ranting'."

Daisuke scared us all by suddenly creeping up behind us and saying, "Captain has been acting pretty weird. Like, weirder than normal."

"PMS on steroids," a new voice added, "Definitely."

Teru and Daisuke parted to reveal a man with long blond hair. The moment I saw him and his twinkling blue eyes, one word popped into my mind: _womanizer._

He winked at me as he strode forward. "Who's this? A new recruit?" Taking my hand in his much larger one, he kissed my knuckles gently. I let him, because I wanted to see his face when he found out…

"Get off her, Bel, she's the Captain's property," Tsubasa drawled gently.

Bel retracted his hands slowly, one of his fingers brushing a strand of my long hair. "Oopsie. Well, as much as I like to test the Captain's temper, I'd rather keep all of my limbs."

Rolling her eyes, Teru gestured towards Bel with a thumb. "This is Bel, resident womanizer, narcissist, and weaponmaker—if I were you, I'd go to him for a new dagger and nothing else. Not that you would, of course," she amended quickly, "since you're already the Captain's."

It was infuriating, hearing everyone talk about me as if Kamui had already written his name all over me (which he hadn't), and moreover, the fact that they were alluding that Kamui was affectionate (which he wasn't) and even was slightly enamored with me (and everyone _knew_ that Kamui was nowhere near capable to the emotion of _love_). The only thing Kamui loved was the spilling of blood.

I sighed loudly. "I am my own, guys. Kamui and I are a couple in name _only_."

"Or so you say," Bel (who was becoming increasingly annoying with every second), commented, inspecting his perfectly manicured nails. "Going by my intuition alone, I'd say you're feeling pretty bored without him there to get on your nerves."

"I am not—" I started to say, but considered it.

…It was a little too quiet.

"I miss Abuto, that's all," I said with a sigh. "I loved his dry, witty remarks, his role as Kamui's human punching bag, et cetera."

"Mm-hmm. At the very least, you're attracted to him physically," Bel told me as he gently sat me down on one of the bunk beds, taking the spot next to me easily. "I, for one, think you have a thing for bad boys."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't have a _thing_ for anybody. It's against assassin conduct, you know, to establish romantic relationships."

"Well, when you guys get married, you'll be in a romantic relationship, and once Kamui finally bangs you silly, you'll fall in love and have beautiful babies and live happily ever after, and you'll technically not be an assassin anymore since you'll have given up your mission," Bel stated happily.

Exasperated, I just stared at him. "I've never met a bigger idiot in my life. Besides, the engagement's called off once one of us dies—so the marriage thing isn't going to happen."

"Um, yes it is."

Frozen, I forced myself to turn to Daisuke. "…What?"

Amused, he held up a sheet of paper. "As of yesterday, a paper came with your legal guardian, Mr. Shintaro, agreeing to give you in marriage to Kamui of the Yato. See, your signature and thumbprints are on here, too. All we need to do is have Kamui—"

I snatched the paper out of his hands and scanned the sheet furiously. Sure enough, there was my signature…my _forged_ signature. "Sebastian," I growled. _What was he thinking?_

Revenge, maybe. Or maybe he just had something up his sleeve.

_Or_, if I looked at this situation from a more lucrative perspective, if Kamui and I got married and he got killed, then I would gain all of his assets as his widowed wife. And then Sebastian would expect 50% of it.

But I didn't _want_ to get married, least of all to _him_. And I sure as hell wasn't giving my virginity to him. I took in a shaky breath. "Well, since Kamui won't agree, we can just rip up this paper and be done with it, yes?"

"On the contrary." Daisuke grinned. "I have this scanned into my computer, and I sent it to Abuto, who has already shown it to the captain. _And_, just a couple minutes ago, he sent me _this_ file." Whipping out an electronic device, he flashed the screen at me.

Two signatures. Two sets of thumbprints.

My eyes widened, and I dove for the _damned_ device, only for Daisuke to have yank it away just in time. "B-b-b-b-b—" I stuttered, only to have Teru crack up.

"HA! You guys are married!"

"Not yet," Tsubasa interjected serenely, "Kamui has to come back first, and then the document will be officiated by the Admiral. After that, I suppose the only advice I can give you is…congratulations."

I buried my face in my hands, muffling a high-pitched shriek. At least Kamui wouldn't be back for a while…

There was a ringing from somebody's phone, and Daisuke picked it up. "Hello?" He paused, then laughed. "Okay, got it, Captain." I stiffened automatically.

Daisuke burst into raucous laughter and dangled the infernal phone in front of my face. "Ane-san, it's for you."

Tentatively, I put the phone to my ear. "…Spare me the details, Kamui."

Kamui laughed: something I hadn't heard in a while. _"Miss me already?"_

"Don't be so full of yourself," I muttered the same time Teru and Bel joined in song:

_Captain and Ane-san sittin' in a tree_

_K-I-S-S-I-N-G!_

_First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a wittle baby carriage!_

"SHUT UP!" I yelled the same time Kamui burst into laughter.

Moodily, I barked into the receiver, "Hurry up. What did you want to say?"

"_Oh, nothing. I just wanted to hear your voice."_

I couldn't help it; I blushed from head to toe. Evidently everyone knew that there was something that Kamui had said, since they all chorused "Oooooh…", even Tsubasa.

Angry at myself, I started to stutter embarrassingly. "I—I, uh, you—_shut up!_"

Kamui chuckled again, being oddly complacent. _"I'll be home in a couple of days—I need to finish up some business before we can get married."_

I lowered my voice to a deathly hiss. "Now you listen to me, Kamui. I am sure as hell _not_ going to get married to a bastard like you. I'd rather hook up with—" I threw out a random name. "—Akio instead. At least _he_ doesn't talk as much as you do."

The other line was silent. "Uh, hello? _Hello?_ Kamui, are you ignoring me?"

"_Then what do you want me to do?"_ Kamui's voice was scarily serious. _"What do you want me to do to make you stay by me? Do you want me to lengthen the game? Do you want my money? My power? Do you want my braid? I know that was your client's requirement."_

I frowned. "I want your life, that's what."

"…_I'm afraid that's impossible. I don't love you _that_ much."_

My neck started heating up again, and I reprimanded myself. "You don't love me, Kamui. You're not capable of _any_ kind of love."

"_How do you know?"_ he challenged me. _"I'm not a robot."_

I lifted my chin unconsciously. "Then show me. Introduce me to your family. If you show me that you're at least capable of familial love, then I'll marry you." It was impossible—I knew that Kamui didn't have any family. After all, Sebastian didn't tell me about anything—

"…_I won't take you to my father, but I have a sister on Earth."_

Oh, shit.

What had I gotten myself into?

"_Asahi?"_

I coughed. "Oh, er, uh…"

"_I'll come back tomorrow and pick you up. We'll meet my sister then."_ The phone call abruptly ended.

"What…happened?" Teru questioned apprehensively. "Did something…go wrong? You're awfully pale."

"Does…Kamui have a sister?" I managed out dazedly.

"Oh, yeah, I've heard she's the spitting image of her brother—even in personality," Bel laughed.

"_Shut up,_" Teru hissed as she eyed my face nervously.

I was meeting two monster siblings tomorrow, and I was getting married to one of them.

No profanity could even get _close_ to describing how I felt at this moment.

* * *

><p><em><strong>What happened before the phone call…<strong>_

_**(WARNING: Profanity and sexual references abound. Watch out for the chapters from here on out.)**_

(Kamui's POV)

I was a little bit lonely, yes.

Weirdly enough.

I kind of missed having someone to annoy. Abuto was too used to me to get a good reaction out of him. It was interesting, the way she pursed her red lips in an attempt to harness her anger, and the way her white eyebrows drew together, creating these cute little wrinkles in that space below her forehead… I never really saw her smile at me…for real, I mean. I saw her evil smile and I heard her throaty cackle-laugh, but I never saw her _smile_ smile. I kind of wanted to see it.

It probably would make her really pretty, with her red irises twinkling and maybe a couple of laugh wrinkles popping up at the tips of her eyes.

Since when did I become a poet?

Damn. My genius plan was having the opposite effect it was supposed to have. Why did she always have to win in my mind? I won _outside_ of my mental world, but it was somehow a different story inside…

Huh. Interesting.

I twirled my umbrella a little bit, sighing. This wasn't fair. How come Asahi could be perfectly fine without me and I couldn't?

There _had_ to be some way to make her miss me back.

And there was the problem of the game. I didn't want to kill her—not yet, at least. And I didn't want her to kill me either. The month was going to be over in a blink of an eye, and I had to do something to keep her around a little longer (until I crushed her neck myself). Plus, there was the matter of the client…

"Hey, Abuto," I said suddenly as we walked on the streets of some red-light district. "What did Asahi's client need to confirm that I was dead?"

"Huh? Oh, I think it was your braid or something."

Hair grows back, anyway.

…But what if Asahi didn't want to stay?

Well, that was easy. I'd just have to tie her down; maybe threaten that childhood friend she loved so much. That Sebastian/Shintaro fellow. I had Abuto do some research and some bargaining here and there, and we'd uncovered the truth of the Meiru Massacre. Apparently Asahi still had some guilt (why, I didn't know) for taking her bartender friend's eye.

_Just thinking of that bastard made me angry._

Attempting to quickly alleviate my anger, I was about to lash out at the nearest passerby when a strange little voice interrupted me:

_How do you think Asahi would feel about this?_

How she would feel about this? What did that have to do with anything?

_Don't you think she would be sad for that poor woman you were going to kill for no reason? Maybe she would be upset that you were going to kill someone innocent, especially a woman, to cool down your anger._

Well, maybe she would be happy that I held back my temper enough to limit the necessary casualties to one person, I snapped back to the voice.

_Would she really be happy that you took a life because of your anger? Which was caused by her?_

The 'poor woman' is an insignificant prostitute. Nobody will miss her—in fact, wouldn't the world be _better_ because of it?

_Fine. Do what you want, but don't blame me if Asahi hates you even more than she already does._

…Fuck.

I let a feral growl loose from my throat, scaring away the prostitute. Muttering a few more choice curses, I stomped towards Abuto. "I'm tired. Let's do something fun in Edo."

"Fun? What kind of fun?" he asked, eager to slack from work as well.

"I don't know." _What can I do to make Asahi like me?_ (Then, I reasoned, I'd be able to get away with anything. Maybe I could kiss her or something, sweeten her up, and then she'd totally melt at my feet and let me do whatever I wanted with her…and then I'd kill her, since she'd be no fun. Probably.) "Shopping?"

"Shopping?" Abuto scoffed. "You never _shop_. That's woman stuff, Captain."

"Just _do_ it," I told him. "I'm going to buy something for Asahi."

"_Ohhhh._ She's going to be creeped out, you know." Abuto paused. "Maybe she'll want a dog or something."

A _dog_. A dog! A live, breathing, furry animal that would be named Kamui Jr. and would forever remind her of me, and therefore when she loved it, she would be loving me, too. It would be like indirect telepathy.

_Perfect._

I completely missed the way Abuto looked at me strangely and said, "A _stuffed_ one of course…you know that, right?"

Instead, I excitedly chattered on, "What do you think she'd like? A white one? A red one? An ugly wrinkled one?"

As we walked towards the city market, I argued one-sidedly about the type of dog Asahi would prefer. Our conversation was cut short when Abuto's little flat computer jingled and he took it out, reading whatever was on the screen.

"What is it?" I asked curiously when Abuto burst out into a short gasp of laughter.

"Want to get married to Asahi? Her signatures are already here, but I think it's probably forged. There's no way she'd get married to you, but…"

I paused to think about it.

Well, what was so bad about it? I would be able to extend the game, and I could kill her off whenever she started to bore me. Plus, with us married, there was a high possibility of producing powerful offspring.

I heard that the Meiru and Yato blood mixed together to create the ultimate power.

Then it was settled.

Abuto mistook my long silence as something else, and laughed nervously. "Well, of course you're not interested in it—'cause you want to kill her, right? So I'll just email Daisuke back and tell him—"

"I'll sign it."

He almost dropped the pad. "_What_?"

"Give it here. I'll sign it." Scribbling my name onto the screen with a flourish, I handed it back happily.

It didn't matter if Asahi would complain or argue. I'd make her, and then she'd fall head over heels in love with me, and then we'd live happily ever after in our own spaceship and a dog and—

Wait, wait, wait.

Who said that being in _love_ made us _happy_?

Sure, I kind of liked being around Asahi, even if she was kind of annoying and I wanted to kill her, but we didn't _love_ each other.

Emotion is weakness. Weakness is a sign of deficiency in power.

Or maybe love was something else, not that mushy romantic emotion that Kagura always raved about when she was a little brat.

"Hey, Abuto, what's love?" I asked on a whim.

He sputtered. "H-Huh?" Composing himself, Abuto coughed. "Er, well, I guess it's when you kiss and want to sleep together and stuff…" He thought some more. "I've heard that there's a really fine line between love and hate."

"Huh." I smiled. "I think I'm in love with Asahi, then."

He sputtered some more, the milk he was drinking shooting out of his nose. I laughed. "_WHAT?_"

"Yeah." I counted off the requirements on my fingers. "Love is kissing, having sex, and hating each other at the same time, so I love Asahi." I grinned. "_And_, Asahi and I can become a tag team, so it won't even decrease my power!"

"Uh…I think you've got that definition _way_ screwed up," Abuto muttered. "And you two had sex? _How?_ Was she drunk?"

"No, not yet, I'll do it after we're married, or maybe before. Depends on my mood." I twirled my umbrella some more. "But that's a good idea—maybe I'll feed her some sake when we get home…which reminds me, can you put Asahi on the phone? I want to congratulate her on our marriage!"

"Lord…she's going to be pissed off and confused," Abuto muttered, but I didn't pay attention.

_Now about that dog…_

* * *

><p><strong>I know, I know, dramatic. But I think that Kamui's fairly dramatic anyway. He decides things on a whim, and he has a mind of a kid.<strong>

**In case anybody hasn't noticed, BOTH HE AND ABUTO HAVE SCREWED UP DEFINITIONS OF LOVE. By no means am I saying that love is all about the physical stuff, because it's not. It's about you and your partner appreciating each other and loving each other for who they are. :) Three cheers for lurvvvv! (yeah. I'm a big ol wheel of cheese. I know it.)**

**Look forward to the big "family gathering"! Of course, Gintoki and Shinpachi will be there…**

**If there are any requests for which characters you want to appear, review!**

**THANK YOU for everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Special shoutouts to DatAznKid and FaiaDemon. Thanks so much for your lovely reviews, hopefully this chapter didn't disappoint everyone too much. TT_TT**

**Also, any ideas on what dog Asahi should get? I'm thinking of many one like Sadaharu.**

**REVIEWS = LOVE**

* * *

><p>And no, I didn't forget (well, I almost did) (unfunny) <strong>MINI-CHAPTER EPILOGUE!<strong>

**Kamui:** Abuto, write me a checklist.

**Abuto**: Okay.

**Kamui:** First, kill Akio.

**Abuto**: (uhm...you sure about that? He's pretty badass, you know...)

**K**: Take Asahi to pick out her dog.

**A**: Oh, that should be fun. I like dogs.

**K**: I want to see her as soon as possible. Should I just go pick her up tonight? Surprise her in bed, maybe? That should be funny.

**A**: She's going to kill you.

**K**: (ignores) I think I will. Come on, Abuto, it's going to take some time to get back to the ship.

**A**: (sighs) We are so screwed, Captain.

**K**: Screw? Oh, yeah, she'll be screwed. Definitely.

Conclusion: Abuto and Kamui travel on different wavelengths, and Kamui has no sense of morality whatsoever. Oh, and he developed some sort of a conscience. Whoopee! :)

Thanks for reading.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey peeps, long time no see. Sorry about that. I'm going to cut this beginning author's note short and just say: THANK YOU REVIEWERS! xoxo**

**Enjoy!**

**P.S. (Sorry if it's cheesy, I've been in a romantic mood these days.)**

* * *

><p>Chapter 8<p>

It was a blissfully warm day—just warm enough to be outside, but not sunny to the point that it was unbearable. I was on my back in a large, grassy meadow, arms outstretched and eyes half-lidded, basking in the soothing sunlight and without a care in the world.

It occurred to me that I'd never had much time to enjoy myself as an assassin. Days were spent in the darkness of the city, hunting down targets, one after another, or hiding from the government and rivals. But to be lying down like this, sincerely relaxed, it was as if it were a dream.

_Oh_.

Of course. Something like this was too good to be true. I'd killed too many people and done too many cruel deeds—I could never start again with a clean slate. Not like this. Maybe in the next life.

I opened my eyes when something wet dragged itself along my cheek. It was a little white dog, its tail wagging ferociously and its tongue hanging out one side of its panting mouth. I couldn't help but smile and sit up, fluffing its fur as it snuffled in appreciation. I laughed and tickled its nose, causing the dog to bite me playfully.

"MOM!" A child's voice called out to his mother in the background. I continued petting the dog, ignoring the voice easily.

"_MOMMMMM!_" Again, the boy insistently called out, the sound getting closer and closer. Brushing it off as a mother that wasn't paying proper attention to her child, I started scratching the bottom of the doggie's chin, watching it amusedly as it rolled over, exposing its tummy to me.

"_Mom_, I called you like—a _gazillion_ times!" I was surprised when the boy's voice rang out loud in my ear, and jerked to the side.

My heart leapt to my throat and I uncharacteristically stumbled back, my hand slipping from the dampness of the soft grass. I crashed to the ground, but stared at the child, wide-eyed and openmouthed.

"Kamui?" I whispered, my voice sounding dry and hoarse even to my own ears.

The boy was the spitting image of him—bright auburn hair that fell around his pale face in short, snipped locks, stunning ocean blue eyes, and a full lower lip. He scrunched up his narrow nose in confusion. "Mom, are you half-awake or something?"

It was then I noticed that he was much, much shorter than Kamui, and he had a sort of sparkle in his eyes that Kamui lacked. Then, I realized with a start, that he'd called me _Mom_.

It was strange, having a warm, fluttery feeling overcome your chest just at the sound of one simple word. Even odder, I seemed to already hold a fondness for the child, although I'd never reared any myself. I was the youngest of the entire clan, after all.

Rising slowly, I stared at the child in wonder. _This is my child._

_My_ child.

_Mine._

Overcome by a burst of emotion, I held back watery tears as I gathered him in my arms. _He is my family. He is the one to call mine, forever and ever, and no one can take that away from me._

The boy pounded at my arms, confused. "Mom?" he asked tentatively. "Are you crying?"

I pulled away from him to smile at him. "Crazy kid, why would I be crying?"

He just looked at me. "'Cause you're all snotty and your eyes are red?" he said in a matter-of-fact, smart aleck voice that rang true of my own version of it.

Narrowing my eyes, I started standing up, folding my arms. "Did I hear you take that tone with me, young man?"

My son's eyes got real big, and he gathered the puppy in his arms nervously. "Uh, Mom…?"

"If you don't want to get hit, you better run quick." At my half-serious statement, he took off at an unimaginable speed yelling at the top of his lungs, "_Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!_"

At this, I froze in my stance. Right. _Dad_.

"Asahi, if our kid pees his pants, you're washing it."

_My son. The spitting image of Kamui. Which means…_

I turned at the wry voice behind me, fear creeping into every inch of my being. _How could I have been so stupid?_

Obviously, you need a male and a female to create a child. Idiot.

"Kamui?" I asked hesitantly, taking a step backwards in case I needed to make a break for it.

His braid was gone, and his hair in a shaggy, messy cut. He had the same black _qipao_ on as usual, the same everyday smile, but I found myself getting lost in his oddly warm eyes. He smiled at me, a little uncertainly. "Is there something wrong?"

_Why is he so nice?_

I found myself frozen stiff when he reached for me, his warm hands gently skimming my jaw. His softened, but still unbearably sharp and hawk-like eyes searched mine. "Tell me what you're thinking, baby," he murmured, his tenor voice lower than usual.

_The real Kamui wouldn't be so nice, so charming. Or is this the real Kamui?_

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Clearing my throat, embarrassed, I decided to be honest. After all, it was only a dream. It would never happen in real life. Right?

"I just can't believe you're so different, Kamui," I told him, acutely conscious of his thumb brushing back and forth on my cheek, _swip swip swip_.

Kamui didn't speak. Instead, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pressing me to his side tenderly (which honestly shocked me for a second). Relaxing my stance when I breathed in his familiar, comforting scent, I surprised myself by wrapping my arms around his waist.

_I can work with nice Kamui._

Together, we watched our son playing with our dog. I couldn't help but feel a smile creep up onto my face, and when I looked up at Kamui, I was surprised to see him smiling too. Not in a "I'm better than you" way, or a "I'm going to manipulate you and somehow make your life a living Hell" way, but in a—

"That's our kid, Asahi." My eyes widened as I looked at him in shock.

His hand rubbing circles into my upper arm, Kamui continued. "I know it still strikes you as strange sometimes, but believe me: I'm still the same person you met a year ago. I'm not a good guy, and I'm still a violent, badass bastard. But…I think something about you made me think differently about stuff." Separating himself from me, he put both hands on my shoulders and looked at me seriously. "You're probably the best thing that has ever happened in my life—that boy over there is second best. I still think like a commander a lot of the time, and I'm not afraid to kill anyone who angers me, but I value you a lot more than power, or competition." Kamui chuckled hollowly. "Unfortunately, I learned that the hard way."

Suddenly, Kamui buried his face into my neck and chuckled. "Never thought I'd be so corny, didja?"

I laughed softly, feeling myself melting with every word this Dream-Kamui uttered. _If only the real Kamui was like this…_

"I love you, Meiru Asahi—always have, albeit in a really weird way, but I always will." Leaning in slowly, Kamui pressed his lips sweetly to mine. He didn't try to invade me with his tongue, and he wasn't overwhelmingly passionate, either. He was just sweet, loving, perfect Kamui.

Suddenly, I felt his hand caress the side of my face, his other weaving through my hair in languid, easy strokes.

His face grew hazy for a moment, and I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I saw him again, but no longer felt the light breeze of the meadow.

I took no notice of this and returned his sentiment from only a few seconds before. "I love you too."

The hand froze for a minute and drew away.

Groggily, I sat up, confused. "Kamui?" Then I froze.

_I just woke up from a dream kissing the nice Kamui. I told the real Kamui I loved him._

Shit.

_I JUST TOLD THE REAL KAMUI THAT I LOVED HIM (which may or may not be true)._

Scrambling away, I almost fell off the bed as I stared at the man crouched before me, aghast and shocked. My heart was beating fast, from seeing the face I'd saw in the dream, and from fear—not of Kamui himself, but of the growing feelings I had for him. Or maybe his dream-world alter ego, I didn't know.

Three words: what the hell?

My sentiments exactly.

"Who." Kamui spat the word from his mouth, his face draining of all the fun that was predominantly 'Kamui'.

"Huh?" I asked stupidly.

"Who. Is. It," he repeated, each word sharp, condescending, and cruel.

It stung. I flinched, wary now of his accusing gaze. "Who is what?" I asked, calmer now.

"That you love."

It took me a couple of seconds to digest his retort. _He doesn't know._

A plan formulated in my mind easily.

Kamui was not the charming man I—loved—in my dream. For now, the dream did not mean anything except maybe my internal wanting. Perhaps I held more feelings for Kamui than I had previously gathered—more than lust, more than admiration, more than grudging respect. It would do no good to make everything clear at this point in the game, when we stood on unclear grounds and I myself was not even sure how I felt about him.

I would keep up the charade of my "mystery lover" and gauge my apparent affections for the man. If it proved to be false, then I would just continue on my first objective: to kill Kamui. If it proved to be true, however…

_What if Kamui stays as he is now? A ruthless, cruel bastard?_

A sour clump formed at the pit of my stomach, and I cringed internally. First things first. Tipping my chin up, I frowned at Kamui and folded my arms defiantly. "What's it to you?"

A look of absolute fury crossed Kamui's face as he dove over the bed, flipping me over and pinning me down in one deft move. Leaning down so close that our lips were almost touching (I resisted the urge to close in on the little distance left), he growled. "You're mine. Don't even think about other men."

An uncontrollable shiver ran down my spine as my heart sped up to unimaginable speeds. Swallowing hard, I forced myself to remain in control. _Focus._ "I…you're not in control."

"Is that so?" That familiar competitive glint in his eye would be the death of me. "Shall we try and see?"

He didn't seem so mad anymore (of that I was faintly relieved), but mostly daring, curious, and, obviously, competitive. When I felt his large hand cover my thigh and _squeeze_ it, however, I froze again, suddenly aware that I was only wearing one large T-shirt and underwear.

"K-Kamui," _damn my voice for stuttering,_ "g-get o-_off_."

"No." His response was curt, playful, and gleeful at the same time. _Pissing. Me. Off._

In a spurt of hot anger, I fought his hand from the rim of my panties and literally grappled him until I secured an escape route to the door. Swiping a dagger from the bedside table, I rolled onto the floor and dashed out of the door, heading for the barracks to borrow some clothes.

By the time I was well out of range from the infuriating man, a disturbing thought trespassed into my mind.

_Why the heck was he here _now_?_

Oh, right. We were getting married, and he was taking me to see his demon sister.

_Wonderful._

* * *

><p>(Kamui's POV)<p>

I was fucking _pissed_.

Here I was, working my ass off to get myself back onto the ship to get her a fucking _dog_ (and to convince her to marry me, but we'll save that for a rainy day) and what does she do?

She gives me a fucking adorable, half-awake look and fucking says she loves another guy in front of me. Bastard. Isn't that called cheating or something?

Fuck this. Fuck her. Fuck _him_, whoever the dickhead was.

I paced the room, angry to the point that it wasn't even _funny_ anymore. I was going to find the asshole she was in love with, skin him, slice off his manhood and feed it to him through his armpits before decimating him completely.

From the research Abuto had gleaned, she wasn't associated with any men except for that Sebastian character. Maybe she loved him-? No, he was much uglier than me, not to mention weaker.

Asahi would choose someone that could best her. _Like me, duh._

So it would have to be someone on the ship. Part of my crew? _Part of Takasugi's crew?_

_Fuck fuck fuck fuck fu—_

The door opened, and I whipped around. Abuto. He had an incredibly laid back look on his face.

_Pissing me off._

Huh. Maybe he was Asahi's lover. Slamming him to the wall, I wrapped my hands around his throat. "Tell me the truth, Abuto." I didn't wait for his answer. "Do you or do you not love Asahi?"

He shook his head. I loosened my grip slightly. "Does she or does she not love you?"

Another negative answer. I let my hands drop to my sides, defeated. Abuto coughed. "What's this all about? You find Asahi humping a guy or something?"

The image of Asahi naked humping anything with a Y chromosome made my insides clench in a good and bad way. Good, as suggested by the growing hardness on my lower body, and bad, because I was starting to get mad again and _I had nothing to take it out on._

"She told me she loved someone else." The words came out brittle and forced.

"_Ohhh._" Abuto leaned on the wall again, his brow furrowed in deep thought. "Honestly, I think you're misunderstanding things, Captain."

"It's not that Takasugi bastard's crew, is it?" I asked roughly, not caring if Abuto knew or not. I just need reassurance, _any_ reassurance, truth or lie, that she…

That she what?

Loved _me_? Psh. As if.

Did I _want_ her to love me? To stare at me with those huge, puppy-dog eyes and tell me that she genuinely _loved_ me?

"Captain, you're turning really red. You mad or something?"

I was quiet. "No…I'm not."

"Ooookay…"

Coughing, I turned away. "Get Asahi in the ship. We'll be heading to Earth immediately." _I want to see it._

_I want to see her in love. With me._

I want to see her at her weakest, at my disposal. Not in a lust-filled haze, but _love drunk._

"Abuto?"

He turned in the doorway. "Yes, Captain?"

"What do you think I should do to make Asahi fall in love with me?"

Chuckling lightly (why I didn't know), Abuto replied almost instantly, "Respect her as a woman in her own right. Be charming, nice, and try to restrain yourself. Here, I made a list—read it while I fetch Asahi." He shoved a crumply sticky note into my hands.

"You're…awfully prepared, Abuto," I muttered, but he waved it off and disappeared into the hallway.

Sitting on the bed cross-legged, I scanned through its contents lazily:

**Abuto's List of Things to Help Captain Get His Girl**

Be respectful!

Be funny, but not overly funny.

Smile in a non-scary/manipulative way.

Be nice.

Don't try to hump her every chance you get.

Do stuff for her, even little things like pulling out a chair.

Don't make snarky comments.

Don't try to kill/maim her.

Be considerate and sensitive and sweet as often as possible.

Finally, **WWCD?** (What Would Casanova Do?)

...Did Abuto spend his free time looking at girly magazines or something? (No wonder he doesn't get laid.) And who the hell is Casanova? (Proves my point.)

I was about to crumple the note into a little ball and toss it into the toilet, but for some reason, I decided to fold it and stick it into my pocket.

Maybe I really was desperate.

Lord, love _does_ stuff to you, didn't it?

Sheesh.

* * *

><p><strong>Mini Chapter Epilogue:<strong>

K: Hey Akio, who's Casanova?

Akio: … *turns and walks away*

K: Hey Daisuke, who's Casanova?

D: *sputters* Uh…gotta go…

K: Hey Teru, who's Casanova?

T: I dunno, an instant ramen brand?

K: Hey Bel, who's Casanova?

Bel: Oh, nobody really, just my idol AND THE GREATEST PERSON TO WALK THE FACE OF THE EARTH-well, except me, of course.

K: Hey Asahi, who's Casanova?

A: …A manwhore womanizer that deserves to have his balls cut off. Why, you want to be like him? *snorts* Poser.

K: …(fuck you, Abuto.)

_Somewhere in the world, Abuto sneezes. His doom is imminent._

* * *

><p>Okay, okay, I know. I've been out for quite a while, and I haven't mentioned Kagura once.<p>

I actually struggled quite a bit with this chapter—I've written at least ten versions of it, and I just wasn't happy with how it was turning out. I had an idea today to have Asahi meet the "future Kamui" in a dream (this issue will probably be addressed in the near future) and start her on actually realizing her feelings. So, even though Kamui technically declared that he "loves" her, she'll find the real meaning of her feelings for him sooner.

Then of course something will come in a throw a wrench in her plans…but I'll cover that later. Thanks for being so patient with me…I promise to have them in wonderful Earth sooner (or later). Preferably sooner.

**Reviews = Love**. Share the love, people.

GHOST READERS, COME OUT OF HIDING. I INSIST.

I have triple-fudge brownies and ice cream. They're much better than cookies.

t.y.


	9. Chapter 9

**An apology of sorts for lack of updates. :) This is a long and confusing chapter, so it may be subject to changes. If you have any comments/q's, review or PM me. I'll get back to you ASAP.**

**Thanks for reading and putting up with my crap. E****njoy.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 9<p>

Strangely enough, I was excited to go back to Earth. I hadn't seen the sun in what seemed like a long time, and I hungered for the warmth of the rays and even the occasional sunburn. (Don't call me masochistic. Because I'm not.)

Kamui, Abuto, and I took a smaller ship to a nearby planet, and then boarded the public transit to Earth. As I curled up in the large, plushy seats, bringing my knees to my chest, I amused myself by asking Abuto and Kamui questions. (I wasn't _as_ averse to the whole marriage idea now…I figured that it would be easier to not put up as much of a fight and just see how things went.)

"Are we there yet?" I took a sip of some orange juice.

Abuto, who was seated to my right (Kamui was on my left), rolled his eyes. "We just got on the ship."

I persisted. "Then, how long 'till we get there?"

"Three and a half hours."

"That's long." I stuck my lower lip out. "Can I wander around by myself when we get there? For like, a day or so?"

"No."

Narrowing my eyes, I turned to Kamui, who was casually braiding his hair. He shrugged as an explanation. "You're staying with me. Who knows if you'll run away the moment we get in Edo."

"I won't." He just looked at me disbelievingly. I sighed, putting three of my fingers up in a pledge. "Scout's honor, Kamui. I won't run—Meiru don't do the whole running thing unless they're running to kill someone."

He just snorted and looked away.

Exasperated, I threw my hands up in the air. "_God_, Kamui, what do you want me to do? Cut off my pinky? You have to give me some space—I have people to visit—"

He interrupted coolly. "Like your lover?"

_Ah._ I had forgotten about that little white lie. Making a disgruntled noise at the back of my throat, I turned to Abuto. "Did he have anything weird for breakfast?"

"Coffee," Abuto said, as if it explained everything, "makes him overly sober."

"Rrrrgh," I groaned, before making a decision. "Look Kamui, you're misunderstanding things. The only guy I'll be visiting will be Sebastian, for business purposes _only_. Don't you trust me?" I sent him a pleading look.

"No." Ouch.

"I hate you," I probed, trying to get him out of the weird, serious phase.

It worked. He smirked and folded his arms after snapping the band on his braid. "Bet you won't hate me much when we get a dog."

Instinctively, I thought of the doggie in the dream and smiled. "I want a white one. A small white one with a fluffy tail and an adorable bark."

Both men on either side of me shook their heads. "Dogs aren't _meant_ to be _cute_ and _adorable_ and _fluffy_," Kamui explained to me painstakingly, as if he was talking to a kindergartener. "They should be strong, fierce, and God forbid they have an 'adorable bark'."

"Then I refuse to meet your sister with you," I argued back obstinately. "I hate growly dogs like that—they tend to be either idiots or nincompoops, anyway."

I could tell he was going to retort back (and that it would escalate to some minor damage being done to the ship), but we were interrupted by a withered voice from the aisle.

"Is this lovely young couple looking for a special pet?"

All three of us turned to goggle at a crumpled old lady with a wicker basket. Her bangs were overgrown and trailed down her wrinkled little face, and when she opened her mouth to smile at us, I saw that her mouth was, to put it nicely, almost toothless.

Evidently Kamui didn't pay attention to her haggard, scraggly looks and smiled (maybe because of her comment). "Yes," he ventured simply.

She balanced the basket on the arm of the chair and opened it up for us to see. Kamui's shoulder was blocking my vision (did he grow?), so I had to resort to pushing his bicep away and leaning over him to peer into the caverns of the basket.

"Oh…" I couldn't help the little word from slipping out of my mouth. Reaching carefully into the basket, I picked out the tiny little white puppy wrapped in a soft blanket and cradled it in my arms.

"She's a runt," the hag explained. "Family's gone—died and left her alone. She's pretty feisty though—I'm surprised she hasn't bitten you by now." As if on cue, the little puppy gnawed on my hand.

I barely felt it—I just stared at the little animal in my arms. "You're just like me, aren't you?" I whispered to the puppy.

She stared back up at me, her eyes huge and black. The dog whimpered, as if she was crying.

The old woman cleared her throat. "She's quite a special dog—"

Suddenly, Kamui interrupted her. "We'll take it."

Abuto and I stared at him in surprise. "We…will?" I asked, Abuto echoing my sentiment.

Relaxed, Kamui tossed the woman some money, which she pocketed with a toothy (er—toothless?) grin. He shrugged, looking at me sideways. "I had a feeling you'd kick up a fuss if I didn't."

I flushed. He was right, I probably would've. But still…

_It was awfully sweet of him._

"T-Thank you…" I could only stare at the little puppy awkwardly. I wasn't used to thanking anyone—much less someone like Kamui.

"Meiru and Yato, aren't you?"

We both jerked in our seats, my eyes flashing instinctively to our umbrellas, which were leaning next to each other. Kamui was staring at the old woman with a dangerous look in his eye.

Unfazed, she laughed. "Oh, don't worry, I'm no threat. I'm just…pleasantly surprised."

"About…what?" I asked suspiciously.

She chittered like she knew something I didn't. I set the puppy on my lap before I could crush it. "What do you mean by that?" I repeated testily.

"Don't you know the legends?" the hag asked. "Well, you two are young and reckless—I'm sure you never pored over the tomes of old." She sniffed. "The Meiru and Yato combine to make a sort of—"

"Superbaby?" Kamui asked, cutting in again, flashing a knowing look at me. I suppressed a smile. _He remembered._

The old grandma tsked at us disapprovingly. "Young'uns—so disrespectful." Suddenly, she looked thoughtful. "Have you had sex yet?"

Abuto coughed. I paled. Kamui looked amused. "And if we haven't?" he answered smoothly.

I felt a distinct sense of pity for the family of four sitting behind us.

"Ah…" She turned her piercing gaze to me. The puppy in my lap whimpered as I stiffened. "You've been having the dreams, haven't you?"

"Dreams?" Kamui asked.

Slowly, I nodded. "What do they mean?" I questioned warily.

She was slow to respond, and even then, it didn't make much sense. "Possible premonitions of the future, I suppose. It's all quite mystical."

"You mean," I gnawed on my inner cheek, "it _could_ happen?" I thought of my beloved son, and my heart warmed. _If…if she says yes…then my answer is settled._

"Potentially. Maybe not to a tee, but most often, yes."

Breathing out a sigh of partial relief, I ignored Kamui's questioning look and leaned forward. "And how do you know this?"

"Because I married a Yato myself." Her eyes, which were covered by her scraggly, oily bangs, sparkled for a moment—a fine, dazzling red. My own eyes flashed to her hair—white. She started away, quick for an old woman.

_Meiru!_ Dashing up with the puppy in my arms (it yowled and bit me hard enough to draw blood), I chased after the hag. "Wait!"

She stopped in the hallway, where the two compartments of the ship were linked. "What?"

"I…you…you're...what…" I stuttered, unable to form proper words. _She was Meiru. She was family._

Smiling crookedly, she reached out to pat my head with a knobbly hand. "The Meiru and the Yato are like Yin and Yang. One balances out the other. That is why we can stand in the sun, child, and they cannot." She winked. "I've seen the way he looks at you, even though he doesn't know it yet. He'll come around eventually if you tease him well enough."

Pressing a silver button to her right, she stepped back lithely as a door shot out of nowhere and separated us. I didn't try to break it down.

I stopped by the food cart before returning to my seat and bought a bottle of warm milk (made for babies, but I figured that it wouldn't make any difference with a dog). Dazed, I almost tripped over Kamui's outstretched legs as I flopped onto the cushion.

A light nip from the puppy in my lap caught my attention, and I smiled, cooing to the dog, "Well then, what shall your name be, sweetie?"

Kamui spoke, surprising me. "Kamui Jr."

I continued to tickle the puppy under its chin. "It's a girl, so that won't do."

"Kamui-ette Jr."

Rolling my eyes, I turned to snap at the man, but stopped when I saw the serious glint in his eyes. Kamui casually leaned over to pet the dog's fur. "So…" he started, "what was it that you and that old hag were talking about?"

I bristled immediately, mostly out of self-consciousness. "That's none of your business!"

"Yes, it is." He stopped petting the dog. "I'm your fiancé—I deserve to know."

_He…has a point._ I chewed on my lip, trying to think of a way to half-lie, half-tell the truth out of the situation. "She's…Meiru."

"I gathered."

"She married a Yato."

"I heard that, too."

Resisting the urge to explode on him, I persisted patiently. "I…I've been having really…odd…dreams lately. I asked the grandmother about it, and apparently it's normal." _She seems to think that we can really become a real couple._

I took a deep breath and plunged in. "Kamui, do you—do you care for me?"

"Sure I do." My heart lifted. "You're going to be the bearer of my children, after all." And sank.

"O-Other than that…for example, if hypothetically, I had some kind of disorder or STDs or something like that…like if I was infertile…would you still care for me?"

His answer was short and calm. "No." Kamui tilted his head, crookedly smiling. "You're getting weaker. At this point in the game, it looks like I'll be the winner."

_The game. I'd forgotten._

The sunken heart broke to smithereens.

My cheeks burned. _The old lady was wrong._ _The dream was wrong. It was just a hoax. A lie._

_Again._

_Love is a lie._

Swallowing hard, I forced myself to huff. "I haven't gotten weak. I'm just exploring the possibilities—to win." Turning my gaze mechanically to the puppy, I caressed its cheeks with trembling hands. _I've gotten soft._

"What shall I call you?" I whispered to it, letting my long hair fan over my face. "How about Nami? What do you think?"

Salty droplets sprinkled onto the puppy's face. She whimpered, pawing at my stomach, trying to comfort me.

Nami. _Tears._ How sickeningly fitting.

"Well, Nami, how would you like some milk?" I dripped some onto my finger, letting Nami suck on it. "Grow up fast, Nami," I whispered, "grow up and become a good, strong dog."

_Don't become a weakling like me._

**Edo, Japan – 3 Hours Later**

After a long, arduous, and semi-violent discussion, I convinced them to let us split up (I would return to the hotel room they booked in the night), reasoning that they could put a tracker on Nami, who would stick with me.

The first order of business was to go to Sebastian's.

The bar was empty, as usual. Sebastian looked surprised to see me. "Ice cream soda?" he asked when I sat down in front of him.

I shook my head. "Not today. Something I can drown my sorrows in."

"Hmm." Sebastian's tone was thoughtful. "Why are you sad?"

"…It's nothing. Just get me my drink." I played with a nearby paper napkin, ripping it up into shreds and then watching Nami roll around in the makeshift nest.

"You fell in love with him, didn't you?"

I froze momentarily. "…Fell in love with whom?"

"The target." Sebastian set a cup of—something, I didn't know what, except that it smelled potent, in front of me.

I slurped a swig of the drink, feeling a little better once I had a sip. So I kept on sipping, until I had chugged half the glass down. "Yeah," I admitted finally, feeling slightly tipsy and very dizzy. "I screwed up real bad, didn't I?"

Sebastian had a wide smile on his face. I didn't understand why—_just keep sipping_. "Hey, Asahi."

"Mm?"

"I've never forgiven you for the massacre, you know that, right?"

_Weird, why is he bringing this up?_ Feeling the familiar guilt trickle in, I nodded slowly. "I'm sorry."

"I'll forgive you. We can go back to the way we used to be."

My head popped up instantly. "What?"

"On one condition."

I was breathless. _I would do anything for Sebastian—no, Shintaro's forgiveness._ "_Anything_."

"Betray Kamui."

_What?_

Sebastian leaned forward, our noses almost touching. "Y'see, the admiral of the Harusame is awfully worried about Kamui's increasing command in the organization. So, he wants to do a little bit of…cleaning up."

Even my muddled mind didn't need to think very hard to know that this 'cleaning up' only pointed to one thing: murder.

"They want to lure Kamui to attack Takasugi of the Kiheitai." _Ironic._ "And they need you to trick him for them."

The confusion must have been evident on my face, because Sebastian quickly explained. "Because he's so in love with you, he won't be able to detect their obvious trap."

After Sebastian refilled my glass, I swirled it, watching the liquid slosh around in the glass before downing it in one shot. I hiccupped, feeling the tears clog up my throat. "He doesn't love me. Not for the right reasons, at least."

He shrugged noncommittally. "He loves you enough. So do you agree?"

I was silent.

"My forgiveness for a simple _transaction_ of sorts. You would've completed the mission without having to lay a hand on him, _and_ you get a bonus from the Admiral—one that you'll be sharing with me, of course, 7:3. You won't have to marry him, put up with him any longer—in fact, treat it as getting the proper revenge. Life will be back to normal—just you and me, _best friends forever_." He smiled kindly. "What do you think, Asa?"

_Asa._ He used to call me that, back when he was Shintaro.

_What about Kamui?_

Forget him. He doesn't love you.

"_You and me, best friends forever."_

Forever…

I wouldn't be left alone again.

_He doesn't love you._

I nodded. "Okay."

_Kamui._

"On your honor as a Meiru, and your pride as a fighter?"

I'm sorry.

"Yeah, sure." My response was heavily slurred.

_I love you._

Falling unconscious, I slumped to the counter, leaving shiny wet trails streaming down my face.

I didn't hear Nami's warning growl.

I didn't see Sebastian's cruel, mocking smile.

"It's your turn to have everything you love ripped away, _monster_." Sebastian smiled. "The memory control serum in your drink will erase all memory you have of your promise, but _this_ won't." He clutched at the voice recorder in his hand, laughing.

**The Next Day**

"Oh my God. Asahi? _Asahi, wake up_."

I groaned, my breath stale and my head pounding from a hangover. "What, Sebastian?"

"Your fucking dog grew overnight."

It took me a couple of minutes to think his sentence through. Then I blinked. "What are you—oh, _shit_."

Nami. The little, cutesy white puppy I had just _hand-fed_ yesterday?

She grew. I mean, _really_ grew.

_When I said grow up quick, I didn't mean _that_ quick._

"Sure you didn't switch my dog with a horse, Sebastian? Because I'm pretty sure that's not my puppy."

The giant dog (seriously. I think it was at least two heads taller than me) yapped indignantly. My eyes grew big. "I guess not."

Nami wagged her tail eagerly, knocking over an entire row of glasses in the process. I paled as Sebastian's face turned redder and redder.

"_Out._ NOW."

Yelping, I half-dragged, half-ran out the bar, dashing into—well, anywhere. We rushed blindly into the street, and I felt a wooziness overcome me as the full-blown sunlight hit me without the aid of my umbrella.

"WHOA! WATCH OUT!"

I heard Nami howl and felt something smash into my side, sending me flying a couple of feet, rolling until I stopped. "Uuuurgh…"

The spinning didn't help my stomach. I vomited on the sidewalk, then promptly passed out.

_Weakling…_

**Kagura's POV**

"Gin-chan, what do we do? Is she dead?" I peered over Sadaharu, who seemed more interested in the other big Sadaharu, who was pawing at the dead girl on the street.

"Shh!" Gin-chan hissed. "Come on, let's just run before anyone sees—"

"Gin-san, that's not right," Shinpachi scolded him. "Look, she's still breathing, so let's take her back to Yorozuya and patch her up."

"Yeah!" I nodded emphatically. "Sadaharu version 2 can carry her, right, Sadaharu version 2?"

Sadaharu version 2 growled, but wiggled underneath the girl until she was properly on Sadaharu version 2's back.

After ten minutes or so, we got back to the house and lugged the lady up the stairs. Gin-chan tossed her on the couch while Shinpachi ran to get the first-aid kit. Meanwhile, I crouched next to her, studying the lady like a hawk.

She was taller than me, for sure, and had long white hair, kind of like Gin-chan's. I wondered if she was really an old lady with plastic surgery. Her skin was getting pink—probably a sunburn. She was wearing a black uniform type of thing that had her puke dribbled all the way down the front, and strapped to her back was a paper umbrella.

Just like mine, but in a different color.

I yanked it out from its holster, studying the symbol on the hilt: "_Me. I. Ru?" _I read out slowly. Maybe she was a relative of the Yato.

Gin-chan came out of his room with a pair of his pajamas for the girl to change into. (On the way back, we'd argued over who would have to lend the lady clothes; Shinpachi only had the clothes on his back, and mine were too small, so Gin-chan was forced to do it instead.) He set it on the table as Shinpachi started to examine her body for injuries, blushing when he had to partially unbutton her top.

"Weird," he said after a moment. "It doesn't look like she's hurt at all."

"Then why'd she puke?" I asked, curiously poking her cheek.

Shinpachi sniffed her body and grimaced at the smell. "Hangover. Rolling on the ground probably didn't do much for her stomach."

"Eeeeew." I screwed up my face. "Just like Gin-chan." Leaning over the woman, I commented, "But she sure is pretty."

Suddenly, her eyes flew open. I was surprised—they were a deep red that I hadn't expected. The lady was slightly dazed, because when she sat up, she just stared at me, blinking rapidly.

"…Kamui?"

Everyone in the room froze. _She knows Aniki?_

Suddenly, I got very scared. And nervous. And, just a _little_ bit angry, and very, very suspicious.

"How do you know him?" I demanded tartly, curling my hands into fists in case I had to punch.

"...His fiancee."

_WHAT!_ Sub-consciously, I leaped forward and lunged at her-a reflex kind of reaction. My mind was going a mile a minute (_she'shisfianceewhichmeansthatthey'? Ewwwwwwwwwwwww...)_

Suddenly, the place where she used to be disappeared, and she reappeared behind me, her eyes crystal clear. "I see," she started slowly, "you're his sister. Sorry about that—heard you didn't like him all that much." _Huh? So she's polite. Interesting..._

"Who are you?" I asked loudly. "Who are you to _him_? I mean, he's not the type to really love anyone but himself."

Her expression turned sad. "Nobody, except maybe a vessel for bearing children and a plaything."

_So she likes _Aniki_? WHY?_ I scowled at her. "You're crazy."

"I know." She laughed. "Sorry for bothering you guys—I should go get my dog—oh shit, is this barf on my clothes?" Her expression turned flabbergasted and then disgusted.

Gin-chan tossed his pajamas at her. "Just go change and come back. I'll have some strawberry milk out for you—helps with the hangover."

She caught the clothes easily. "…Why?"

He just shrugged. "I want to know why the heck you would like anything in a guy like that." She flushed. "I'm Sakata Gintoki, head of the Yorozuya. That's Kagura," he said, pointing to me, "and the little brat over there's Shinpachi."

I laughed at Shinpachi gleefully. "Ha! Little brat!"

"Hey! Gin-san, that's not—"

"That's nice."

We all turned to look at the woman who was chuckling quietly. "You're a family," she explained, as if it would make everything clear (which it didn't). "Thanks for the clothes." She turned to go, but stopped. "Call me Asahi. I'm in your debt."

She turned the corner, opened the door to the bathroom, and disappeared inside. A moment later, the door opened again. "Can I take a shower? I feel gross."

We burst into laughter. "Sure."

The shower turned on and Shinpachi and I watched TV while Gin-chan went to get the strawberry milk (probably guzzling it all himself). The only shows on were soap operas and kid TV shows, so I chose a random one that looked good.

"_It's the Mystery Candy Man!"_

"_Hey kids, don't cry! Here's some candy!"_ I wanted candy, too. I sighed.

Fifteen minutes into the show (The Mystery Candy Man), I heard a knock on the door. "I'll get it!" I yelled, excited. _Maybe it would be the Mystery Candy Man, who gives poor children candy in times of distress!_

I slid the door open. "Hey, are you the Mystery Candy Man—" My tongue got caught in my throat at the sight in front of me. "Ani—Kamui."

He smiled. "Hello, Kagura."

I lunged at him pointlessly. Effortlessly, he threw me back. "What are you doing here?" I spat out, feeling Shinpachi come up behind me to put a warning hand on my shoulder.

"Looking for my fiancée," he drawled nonchalantly.

I opened my mouth to speak, but was cut off. "Your fiancée isn't here." _Gin-chan? Where'd he come from?_

Aniki's eyes widened in mock surprise. "Why, hello there, Silver-Haired Samurai. If I wasn't on a business errand, I'd challenge you to a fight. Consider yourself lucky."

"Hello there my ass. Get off my property."

_GO GIN-CHAN!_

Aniki raised his eyebrows, starting to retort, but stopped in what looked like shock. _Shock? On Aniki? Impossible—_

"Hey, Sakata-san, where's your conditioner—" Wrapped in a towel with her hair dripping wet, Asahi halted midsentence, gauged the situation, and took a quick step back. "Kamui."

I noticed my brother's hands tightening into fists. _Was he going to pound her?_ I was about to come to her defense (anyone who was on the side opposite of my brother was my friend), but Gin-chan pulled me back. When I looked up at him questioningly, he just shook his head and whispered, "_He's jealous._"

Jealous? My _brother_? Psh.

"Asahi, where were you? You were supposed go back to the hotel once you were finished with your business," my brother snapped as he took a threatening step towards her.

To her credit, Asahi didn't flinch. "I forgot," she said airily, though I noticed that she looked a little bit guilty, like she hadn't meant to blow him off.

"You _forgot_," Kamui said slowly. "I suppose you just conveniently _forgot_ that you were my fiancée and went _here_ to spend the night with that _human_, right?"

Shinpachi and I started to protest, but Gin-chan interrupted us all. "Yeah, she's a real killer in bed, did you know that, Mr. Fiance? Oh wait, you _don't_, because you've never slept with her." Okay, he was obviously just trying to rile my brother up, now. Why, I didn't know.

Asahi didn't either, because when Kamui turned, she started making SOS motions.

I swallowed as Kamui made eye-contact with Gin-chan, all the humor draining away from his expression and a murderous one taking its place.

"_I'll kill you_. This is _mine_." Spinning around abruptly, he grabbed Asahi and smashed her lips with his.

I gasped. Gin-chan snorted. The towel fell. Shinpachi fainted with a nosebleed.

My mind instinctively flashed back to the memories I'd locked away from years ago:

_Aniki had a dog named Pochi that he loved a lot. People thought that he was just using it as a toy, but I could tell that Pochi held a special place in his heart._

_It was hard for Aniki to understand what 'love' meant. He could only express it by making Pochi do all these crazy things, like swimming and catching rocks in its mouth and stuff. People saw it as torture, or cruel enjoyment, but I saw it differently._

_Pochi was an abandoned dog—he was a runt, and was left to fend for himself, all alone. Aniki thought that Pochi needed to become stronger, to be able to beat his family, so he trained the dog constantly. What people didn't know about the so-called 'torture trials' was that Aniki worked extremely hard to train him, and he patched up Pochi's wounds himself and hand-fed him secretly._

_When Pochi disappeared, he was worried. He went out scouting the entire night (and dragged me along), and when he found Pochi lying dead at the hands of a large, mangy dog, he was furious._

_He pounded the dog to its death with the words: "I'll kill you. That dog was _mine_."_

_I saw him later, burying Pochi in our backyard. It was the first and only time I ever saw him cry._

_Inside, I knew that, in his strange little way, Aniki was telling the dog the whole time: _I love you.

My brother loves a woman named Asahi.

Unbelievable.

**What happened the night before, in Kamui's perspective:**

Asahi didn't return to the hotel. The tracker on Nami wasn't responding. I scoured every inch and corner of Edo, searching for her.

My legs grew tired, and my breath came in short gasps. My braid fell out completely, and I tied it in a ponytail instead. My eyes were feeling the aftermath of a couple of days without sleep.

I pressed on. She had to be here somewhere.

It was strange—I didn't think I would be so nervous when she didn't come back. Maybe—maybe this 'love' wasn't so much about the sex.

Oh well. I'd mull it over later. But for now: _whoever's keeping her from me is dead. Asahi is _**mine**.

* * *

><p><strong>This wasn't a very satisfactory chapter for me, but hopefully it wasn't too bad. I still have to sort things out, about Asahi and Kamui, Asahi's inevitable betrayal, and all that stuff. Sigh.<strong>

**Oh, and the rating will be going up to M. I figured that there was too many innuendos/sexual references in this to continue being T, and since there will probably be smut later... ;)**

**Reviews = LOVE.**


	10. MRated Chapter 10

**K guys, I tried my best. Really. _But..._ I just couldn't make the actual sex happen. Proceed with caution, minors! If you're not looking for smut, scroll down to the very bottom and I'll give you a summary of what happened so there aren't any loopholes. :)**

**Enjoy?**

Chapter 10

_What just happened?_

So I was just innocently walking out of the shower to ask for conditioner and BAM—I find Sakata Gintoki gossiping about FALSE news that we were somehow sleeping together with _Kamui_ of all people, and then he gets this enraged look in his eye and kisses me. Out of the blue.

Which _confuses_ the heck out of me, because I was pretty darn sure that he didn't care much for me at all.

To top it all off, my towel falls off (_great_ timing there) and he just wraps his cloak around me, hoists me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and sprints out of the house with my umbrella. Somehow, he jumps onto Nami (who surprisingly doesn't fight back) and the next thing I know, he throws me into the bathroom and locks the door behind him.

At that point, I wasn't sure what was going on or what I was supposed to do—jump out the window? Break the door down? Knock him out?

Kamui came toward me slowly, the look on his face menacing and feral. "You did it with him," he barked accusingly. "Are you going to face the repercussions?"

"I didn't," I choked out, "I promise I didn't do _anything_ with him—I wound up at his place because he knocked me out with his bike—scooter—whatever, and I had a hangover and threw up all over my clothes, and Sebastian kicked me out in the morning so—"

"So you slept with _that_ bastard instead?" he bit out.

"NO!" I put my head in my hands. "No, I didn't sleep with _anyone_. I'm a _virgin_, Kamui—" I stopped when an idea (an absolutely intrusive idea) occurred to me.

Virgins had hymens.

I was a virgin, so therefore my hymen was still intact.

Why not just _prove_ my innocence to him?

_Dirty girl._

So, maybe part of my unusual daringness came from me being naked with his cloak wrapped around me and him flashing that undeniably sexy look. And maybe him being jealous made me slightly, just _slightly _happy. But that had _nothing_ to do with this, I assure you.

"Come here." I stretched out my arm to him. Regarding me suspiciously, Kamui stepped forward, taking my hand in his warmer, larger one.

Before I could do anything, he leaned close towards my ear. "I'm angry, you know that?"

I nodded.

"You betrayed me. You're supposed to be mine, all mine." His husky voice lowered even further. "I'm no fairytale prince and the idea of any kind of soap-opera romance novel relationship honestly repulses me, but I don't want you being whisked off your feet by anyone other than me." He leaned back, putting my face in his hands and staring dolefully into my eyes. "You get what I mean, right?"

"Yeah." Nodding, I flushed instinctively. _He does care for me, doesn't he? Maybe he just has trouble expressing it._

Silently, I put my hand on his again and sat on the edge of the sink, I slowly parted the taupe cape and guided his hand to the right spot, lifting my hips slightly and stopping with a gasp as I felt a sharp pain.

"Do you…feel it?" I breathed out, unsure of what to make of the mixture of pain and desire bubbling in my chest. I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt Kamui's finger roam about.

"Hmm…" The uncertainty and anger gone from his voice, he was teasing and confident, as usual. My shoulders slumped slightly with relief. _He believes me. _ "Actually, I don't—what are you talking about?" _And he's going to use the situation to his advantage_.

I struggled to keep my mind straight and inhaled heavily with a shudder. "It's—ah—the barrier—" Stiffening, I gripped the sides of the sink, subconsciously raising my hips higher and gyrating on his fingers (somehow he'd slipped another digit in without my knowing it). "Kamui…" A moan. A pleading, lust-filled _I'm-on-my-knees_ moan.

How far I'd fallen.

Kamui's breath was hot on my face. "Do you really want me that much?" His tone was amused. "I haven't even done anything yet."

Now _this_ woke me up.

_He was challenging me._

My eyes flying open, my lips curled as a demonic sneer overtook my face. "You wish," I whispered, eyes interlocking with his. "I haven't done anything to you either, but _you_ seem pretty excited, too," I offered, my eyes subtly drifting down to the bulge in his pants, noticing the way his eyes flickered down as well sheepishly.

"Shouldn't you get out of that cloak?" he asked, changing the subject as he retracted his fingers, trailing his tongue over the wetness.

Shivering slightly, I folded my arms with a defiant stare. "Shouldn't _you_ be getting out of those clothes?"

"If you wish." Bracing his arms over the sink, he leaned close, his lips hovering over mine temptingly. "This is your last chance. After this, you can't back out. I'm not going to let you go, and you're going to have to be with me forever, no matter what. Even if I did—which won't happen, by the way—you're gonna have to be faithful to me. Anything less than that and you're dead. Am I clear?"

_I'm making a deal with the Devil himself._ "Crystal." Pleased, he locked my lips with his, pulling away only to powerfully surge into my mouth with his tongue, his fingers trailing from my hair to my collarbone to my chest and then resting on my hips, rubbing aching circles into them.

Wanting to take control, I jerked back, whispering, "I expect the same from you, _darling_."

He snorted, not because of my expectations, but because of the term of endearment. "It sounds weird coming from you," he chuckled before swooping down to dominate once more.

Relaxed but tense at the same time, I let him fist the cloak in one hand and, without breaking the kiss, ripped it off my shoulders and flung it somewhere behind him.

Shivering from my lack of clothing, I broke away to take a breath while he focused his attention on the area below my neck, nipping at the skin there hard enough to draw blood. Feeling a tingle travel up my spine (a real one, from chills), I tensed up and sneezed. Then suddenly, he left.

Stumbling forward, I almost tripped on my feet when I hopped off the sink, looking up when I heard the shower faucet turn on. I raised my eyebrow at Kamui, who merely shrugged and offered me a saucy wink.

"I thought," he said casually, undoing his braid and unbuttoning his shirt, "that you would appreciate a hot shower after I interrupted your last one."

"Oh, is that so?"

Nodding innocently, he tossed his shirt in the corner and moved to unlace his boots. "And I figured that too much wind and cold would be _dreadful_ for that wet hair, so I figured that you would want to get warm before you caught a cold."

"Oh, of course." I folded my arms as I watched him stand and push his pants down. "I'm assuming that you'll be joining me?" I asked, eyeing him both amusedly and appreciatively.

"Can't let a woman do a half-assed job by herself, right?" He opened the door to the shower, looking at me expectantly. "Aren't you coming?"

I realized with a start, _Kamui cares for me._

If he only wanted me as a baby-maker, he'd just fuck me and be done with it.

_But he turned on the shower. Because I _sneezed. _And he's not the type to stop fucking someone because of a sneeze._

Okay, so maybe there _were_ some ulterior motives for it, but who was I to complain?

"Asahi?" Kamui cocked his head at me impatiently.

Folding my arms, I pretended to consider it. "Well, I don't know…"

My fiancé growled. "Asahi. In the shower. _Now_."

I giggled before stepping into his outstretched arms.

**A While Later…**

Kamui let me borrow his clothes and waited for me to finish blow-drying my hair while complaining about the extensive time I took.

It was odd, being able to stand each other without a fight breaking out every fifteen minutes. But it was a nice feeling, no matter what.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and we toddled to one of the two double beds, flopping in it. Kamui yawned. "Sleepy?" I asked, pulling the covers over the two of us.

"Mmm…" he mumbled, "didn't get any sleep last night…"

"What?" I sat up, indignant. "Why?"

He tugged me downwards, sloppily landing a kiss at the edge of my mouth. "Just shut up and go to sleep."

"Why?" I persisted.

He cracked one annoyed eye open. "Because I was looking for you, all right? Go to sleep."

"Oh." I bit my lip to keep a smile from inching its way up to my face. It didn't work. "Sorry," I whispered petulantly.

He mumbled something unintelligible, so I leaned in closer to hear what he said.

"_Don't leave me ever again…"_

I smiled even wider this time, and brushed a feather light kiss on his temple. He responded by pulling me closer and burying his face into my neck. "Good night," I whispered, weaving my fingers in and out of his long hair.

He mumbled something. _"It's not even night time…"_

I snorted.

Same old Kamui.

_Good old Kamui._

* * *

><p><strong>Mini-Chapter Epilogue:<strong>

_An hour later_

**Abuto:** (walks in) WHOA! Am I interrupting something?

**Kamui:** … (snores)

**Asahi:** He's…choking…me (cue pained look) _Help…_

**Abuto:** …I'm leaving you to deal with that thing yourself. (walks out)

**Asahi:** WHAT? Wait, hey, no—DON'T LEAVE ME HERE WITH HIM!

**Kamui:** … (smiles) (snores)

* * *

><p><strong>Summary:<strong> Kamui brings Asahi back to the hotel, they make up and she proves her innocence to him (which is soon taken by said person). They establish an unspoken relationship and both mutually solicit the idea of a long-term relationship/marriage (but it's sort of implied). Other than that, it's either smut or fluff or smutty fluff/fluffy smut. The end, see you next time.

* * *

><p><strong>So I chickened out from the sex scene. Aaaaaah, I'm just not good at writing that sort of stuff… (therefore I'm switching the rating back to T... :) Oh, and for clarification: if there WILL be any M-rated scenes, I will make sure to write a bold AN at the top saying so, and a summary at the bottom, like this one.)**

**And I know it was kind of mushy, especially for people like Asahi and Kamui. BUT before anybody asks, it ain't gonna last soon. Because, when they go back to the ship, guess who's going to remind Asahi of the little promise she made...?**

**Bwahahaha. I'm sure you can imagine what will happen.**

**REVIEW TO CRUSH SEBASTIAN AND FOR ASAHI/KAMUI HAPPINESS!**

**Or if you don't like them as a couple...REVIEW FOR ANTI-ASAHI/KAMUI!**

**woop woop.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The ride back to the spaceship was quiet and marginally awkward.

Abuto was fidgeting quite violently in the seat next to me, casting quick glances at me and Kamui; it didn't help that _someone's_ hand was tracing annoying circles on my leg, which, thankfully, was covered. I didn't need Kamui to stir up another fiasco in public again, not after he'd tried to grope me in the middle of a convenience store.

The cashier gasped, an old lady fainted, and several high school girls ran out, shrieking. _Horny bastard._

Firmly pressing his hand to his own thigh, I let him twine his fingers with mine and lay his head on my shoulder, snuggling into my neck. Abuto stared, half-shocked and half-disbelieving. I returned his doubtful stare with a reluctant, annoyed look.

"Er…" _How should I put this?_ "Uh, as you can see…we're…together now?"

Kamui made a self-satisfied noise near my shoulder. Futilely, I kicked him in an effort to shut him up.

"Uh…huh…" Abuto was still confused. "And this happened...overnight?"

Embarrassed, I jumped up furiously, Kamui slipping off my shoulder and Nami yowling in the back (we'd managed to coerce the ship's captain to let her board). "Well—uh—no!" Stammering, I hurried to find a plausible response: yes, after thinking about it, Kamui had won me over quite easily, hadn't he?

_Humiliating._

As if sensing my thoughts, Kamui smiled widely as he tugged me down into his lap. "I seduced her, Abuto—you should learn from me and get a woman too."

"I'm not _your_ woman!" I yelped, ears heating up, scooting off of his legs. "Don't be ridiculous, Kamui—"

"Oh, really?" A taunting grin pulled at his curved lips, his eyes defiant, commanding, and challenging all at once. "You didn't seem to protest earlier today…going back on your word, Asahi?"

I bristled automatically, but the flush from remembering our earlier _incident_ didn't make it past his hawk-like observations. "Well?" he repeated.

He was coming out victorious. We both knew it.

Defeated, I opened my mouth to speak, but Abuto saved me by interrupting, "Wait one _minute_. You're telling me that you guys just—just—" His voice dropped several decibels. "—_did it_?"

I focused on restraining myself from crawling under my seat in embarrassment (_you don't talk about personal things like this to other people_) while Kamui, who was slightly upset at Abuto's oblivious rescue, was no doubt about to proclaim something brutish at the top of his lungs.

Desperate to regain control and scrimp for at least _some_ form of modesty (thank God nobody wanted to sit in this compartment), I resorted to smashing Kamui's face in before he could finish his sentence. "Oh, look, Kamui has fallen into a deep sleep! He must be so tired! Great, Abuto, _you go to sleep too, OK?_" Jerking Kamui's seat down and covering his face with a blanket, I did the same to Abuto (he conked out obediently; maybe out of fear, I don't know).

"Finally…some uninhibited peace and quiet."

**At the Ship, After Several Weeks**

I learned real quick that there were several glaring flaws about Kamui:

Firstly, he seemed to be "in heat" all year, 24-7.

Secondly, he seemed to not care about _privacy_ and _decency_.

Thirdly, he seemed to want to broadcast the news that we were officially married to everyone.

Yeah. _Married._

In the hour that we'd arrived back at the ship, he had someone finalize the marriage documents, managed to sneak a ring onto my finger, and pulled me into bed for another round of lovemaking.

It wasn't that I protested (too much) or was (overly) unhappy with the chain of events, but…_why was he insisting on telling _everyone_?_

By everyone, I mean _everyone_ and _anyone_ who passed him in the hallway.

And I hated it.

Even though I assumed that I harbored some kind of strong affection towards Kamui, I was already feeling the gnawing pangs of suppression. Kamui was always in control, even when he wasn't there. I was scared, seeing the range of my freedom and power diminish rapidly, and Kamui's power over _me_ growing steadily with each day. Even worse, I was terrified of how easily I gave into him.

And once I was completely tamed and submissive, I was horrified of thought that he would throw me away like a used toy. I started to get nightmares, dreaming of the day he would toss me out. I'd woken up in tears several times, but erased any evidence of weakness before Kamui awoke.

Every day, I would struggle to grasp at that thread of rebellion, of _Meiru_, fluttering around in the expanse of my soul. Sometimes I would accomplish minor things (such as visiting Takasugi's own spaceship, which Kamui reluctantly allowed but still quietly simmered over) but major things, I was always the loser. I wasn't allowed to participate in Harusame activities, and I'd given up on the assassin's mission long ago.

I hated losing. I hated it with a vengeance, yet I could do nothing but it.

I was fighting a losing battle. Again.

Perhaps that was why I saw the temptation of deceit, tossed to me three weeks after we'd returned, like a sacred lifeline.

I had been called to the Admiral's personal office—Kamui was not alerted. As the faithful wife of Captain Kamui, I should have been suspicious the moment I saw Takasugi and Sebastian there. Instead, I was simply surprised and faintly pleased.

"Sebastian?" I said, smiling. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, don't you remember, Asahi?" Sebastian's lips quirked in a tiny, half smile; the most I'd ever seen in years. "You agreed to help us with the mission—and I must say, you've done an excellent job thus far."

I was pleased that Sebastian complimented me, something he did rarely. "Oh…uh…thanks!"

The Admiral, a fat, greasy looking man, leered. "Yes, we need your help in our final trap to execute Kamui once and for all."

I froze, torn. _Betray Kamui and keep to the morals of a Meiru, or keep your promise to your husband?_

I tread carefully, calculating my words. "And why would you ask the wife of the person you would like to execute for help?"

"Well, you've already promised," the Admiral returned easily, confidently.

_Was I going to bow down to the will of a fat, pompous weakling to sever the head of beast that had subjugated me? Was I going to bend that low to salvage what was left of my pride?_

Sebastian dangled a recorder in front of me. As the record played, faint, dim memories of a proclamation in a drunken stupor rang familiarly in my head.

"…_on my honor as a Meiru…"_

I was already reaching for the offer, desperate as I was to regain my status. I was already formulating plans, excuses, lies…

_Shameful. How could you?_

I was supposed to be powerful, ruthless, almighty—not a simple, guileless woman.

_You're not any woman. You're _his_ woman._

The chiding voice in my head surprised me.

No. I was supposed to be a traitor. I was supposed to be a power-hungry, malicious assassin.

_You made a precious promise to Kamui, too. Don't you love him?_

Did I? _I thought I did._

I do.

_But…I don't want to be oppressed either._

Takasugi saw the uncertainty in my face. "You worthless woman," he said, unyielding, unforgiving. "You can't even choose between pride and a simple man."

My eyes darkened. My fists clenched. The tiny, warbling voice in my chest was squashed, consumed by the anger of a true warrior.

_A Meiru._

"What do you want me to do?"

The Admiral smiled. "Oh, it's very simple:

"_Leave."_

* * *

><p><strong>...I absolutely hated writing this chapter. I know, not an excuse for not updating, but STILL. I made Asahi into a lying, wannabe power-freak bitch. T_T I think this is her main complex, though. It's a mix of not wanting to lose, wanting to live up to her family heritage, as well as (although she might not figure this out yet) the fear of becoming TOO submissive to Kamui, and losing his interest because of it. Please forgive her. She's confused, unsure of what to do, and acting like an idiot. Not to mention being provoked by Takasugi isn't the best way to resist temptation.<strong>

**Oh, and if it's any wonder, Kamui will be mad. Very, very mad. Absolutely furious.**

**Review to find out what happens next? (great. I'm going to get beaten up.)**

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks to anyone who read, story alerted, favorited, reviewed. LOVE YOU ALL. xo<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**Multiple POV changes in this chapter. See if you can figure out who's talking. :) Happy reading.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 12<p>

_Pack your things and leave at midnight. If Kamui catches you, fight with him, say anything to hurt him. We need to shake him up as much as possible, and only you can do this to him._

I took a deep breath, latching the knapsack containing my few belongings across my back. This was it.

_Cinderella's spell was broken at midnight. Except, I suppose there was not much of a spell for me to begin with._

"Nami, c'mon, we're leaving." I patted her neck as she snuffled in response. Walking side-by-side, we quietly tread down the hallway.

It was too quiet.

Forcing myself to make conversation with a giant dog that couldn't talk, I continued. "We're going to go back to Earth. Wouldn't you like that, Nami?"

Nami whined. I laughed weakly. "This isn't really a good habitat for dogs like you, Nami. You need some real Earth oxygen in you, not all this fabricated space stuff. You'll love it, don't worry."

We got to the extra spaceship that the Admiral had chartered for the two of us. "Well, I guess this is it," I whispered to her, clutching some of her fur into my hand. I took a step into the spaceship and—

"_Asahi!_"

I heard a thump, and several grunts and moans. Stepping quickly behind the barrier of the spaceship, I forced myself not to turn at the sound of that familiar voice.

_This is the best choice for you, Asahi. You can't live crushed under his control._

"Asahi, what are you doing? Come here," he commanded.

I mustered up my voice. "No."

"Why?" Kamui asked softly, quietly, dangerously. "Are you unhappy with something?"

"Yes," I said, swiveling around. That was a mistake. Though his voice was stern, cold, and dangerous, his eyes conveyed a different story.

_Hurt._

I wavered for an unbearably long moment before regaining myself. "I…" I trailed off. "You've been taking away all of my freedom, all my pride as a woman, and a Meiru, at that. I can't live with you like this anymore."

His mouth snapped shut in a tight line. "Asahi, I'm giving you one last chance. _Come here_. This is where you belong, with me." His eyes darkened. "If not…then I'm afraid you'll have to pay the price of betraying me."

_Betrayal._

"You made a promise to me, Asahi," he quietly reminded me. "By marrying me, you no longer carry the Meiru name. You are one of the Yato now—by Amanto law and Yato law as well."

_I hadn't thought of that._

Guilty and ashamed, I stared at my boots, well-worn but clean. _I had no idea what I was doing. I was just recklessly basing my actions on my selfish pride._

"Asahi?" I looked up into his pleading blue eyes. "Don't do this to me," he breathed softly, coming closer, carefully. "Don't do this to us."

_Us? There was never an 'us'. It was all _him.

I stepped backwards, and he froze midstep. "Even if I'm not Meiru anymore…I'm still my own woman. And I _hate_ _losing_."

His face closed up. "Then I'm afraid I can't help you with that. There can't be two people fighting for power in this family, Asahi, and I will never bend down to _you_. That was the risk you took by loving me, and that was the risk you took by marrying me. Live up to it."

_No._ Terrified of the prospect again, I shamefully, took another step back. "I can't, Kamui. That wasn't…the way I was raised—my fangs are too sharp, too used to having the upper hand to be able to—to love you." I shuddered. "We're both too powerful for each other, Kamui, don't you understand? We're better off without each other."

"You promised me you wouldn't leave my side, you wouldn't betray me, no matter what!" Kamui's voice grew louder, angrier, until the enraged beast in him was let loose. "YOU PROMISED!"

His words painfully clutched at my chest. I was sick of this. I was sick of my weakness, of my indecision, of my horrible pride. I hated hurting Kamui. I hated looking at his eyes and knowing that I was crushing our bond with my selfishness.

"I—" I opened my mouth to speak, to give up, to relent, but was met with unapproachable, uncontainable darkness.

* * *

><p><em>Sebastian smiled cruelly, brandishing an iron bat. He slung Asahi's unconscious body over his shoulder, ignoring Nami's growls from inside the smaller ship. "Sorry, I'm afraid I'll be taking the princess back to her home."<em>

"_You…" Kamui bared his teeth at the man, a feral growl emanating from his throat. He tensed, ready to pounce._

"_Bye-bye." The doors slid shut and the ship soared off into outer space._

* * *

><p><em>Captain has been beside himself.<em>

_He acts completely normal, with his smiley façade, but I can tell. When I entered his room, it was completely, utterly destroyed. His hands were bleeding profusely, and his body was crumpled onto the ruined mattress, breathing heavily. When I asked him what was wrong, he flipped over, his body sagging in despair._

"_She left." His fists clenched. "She told me she didn't want to be controlled anymore. So she left. And she broke her fucking promise, dammit!"_ _He punched the floor aimlessly, creating a giant crater._

_Then, as if a haze had overtaken him, he stood calmly. "I have a dinner to go to with the Admiral," he told me sullenly. "Bandage my wounds, Abuto."_

_He was completely unaffected with the Admiral, even pretending not to know the existence of Takasugi Shinsuke. It was as if he wanted to turn back time, to forget about Asahi, to forget about the time he really, truly loved. Go back to being the demon captain of the Harusame._

_I knew though, that he still loved her. The way he refused to replace the bedding or the pillows or the mattress. Because it still rang deep of their time together, and of her scent, and of their love._

* * *

><p>"<em>Mom?"<em>

_I smiled down at my son. We were back in the meadows, facing the beautiful blue sky. "Yes, dear?"_

_My smile froze on my face. My beautiful son was no longer beautiful—he was an ugly, horrifying cracked doll, bleeding red rivers of blood._

_Disgusted and frightened, I threw down the shell of what my son had been, looking up when I heard a voice._

"_A…sahi…"_

_I gasped, sickened and frightened. Kamui's body, mangled and bloody, was at my feet. He gazed up at me, whispering softly: "You…did…this…"_

_I stood, shocked. I'd never seen Kamui so weakened, so _vulnerable_ before. It occurred to me that after all this time, I'd started to think he was invincible. Seeing him like this frightened me and threw me into an unconceivable panic._

"_No," I cried, kneeling by his side, kissing him, stroking his hair frantically, "no, I'm sorry, I love you, I was wrong, I was a coward, please, please, please don't go…"_

_I had never felt such pain in my life. It was nothing compared to physical pain, and I had never wanted anything more in my life than to save him._

_He closed his eyes and died. I felt his heart stop beneath my fingers._

_It was my fault._

"_No, Kamui, please don't, please don't…" Sweat pouring down my face, I wailed, the perspiration intermingling with my salty tears. "It was my fault, just turn back time so I can make it right again, please…If there is a God, I swear I'll do anything, I'll throw away my honor, anything, just make me make right things again!"_

* * *

><p>I awoke to Nami's yowling and a ringing pain in my head. "…Nami?"<p>

We were still in the ship, but it wasn't moving. I looked down. I was bound to a bed, strapped in by metal that even I couldn't break.

_Kamui._ Immediately filled with regret and remorse, I struggled, calling for help. _I need to go back. I need to hurry, before they trap him._

"Sorry, lovergirl, no help will come to you here."

I stared at the looming figure that came nearer, brandishing something sharp and gleaming. "…Sebastian?"

He smiled. "Hello, Asahi." My eyes focused on the "sharp, gleaming" thing and registered that it was a very sharp, long knife, dosed with a lethal poison that I recognized. I used it on many of my targets—it spread into the bloodstream and resulted in a slow, agonizing death on the way to the heart.

I had no means of protection.

"Hi…" I swallowed. "May I ask just _what_ you will be doing with that knife?"

"Simple." He grinned. "I'll be taking revenge for my family once and for all, _murderer_."

My heart sank. _So it had come down to that._ "So persuading me to betray Kamui wasn't enough for you?"

"Of course not." Sebastian folded his arms matter-of-factly. "I knew that sooner or later, you would have second thoughts about the marriage, which I used to my advantage. The Harusame are pleased with the results of your actions—Captain Kamui's logic has been greatly undermined by your absence. His head and his heart have been separated, and the plan is thus going along smoothly."

"No!" I struggled against the bindings. "Sebastian, you can't let them do this—it isn't right!"

"And did you killing my family make it right?" Sebastian snorted, an unlikely sound to be coming from him. "No."

"Please, Sebastian," I pleaded, throwing away the last scraps of pride I had left. "Please, I'll do anything. Just let me go back and save him."

His tall figure hung over me, the sharp dagger positioned near my throat. His answering grin was unapologetic, and his answer simple. "No."

I closed my eyes.

_I'm sorry, Kamui._

_I'm sorry, baby._

* * *

><p><strong>To clarify, the "baby" she's talking about isn't referring to Kamui. She's talking about her future son.<strong>

**Well. Dramatico, yes? Review for the next chapter to come quick quick quick! :D**

**xo**


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry about the wait. And yeah, it's movie-dramatic. Egad.**

**Next chapter's already written, but it may take some time to upload since right now is technically the "calm before finals". AKA next to next-next week will be major cram/pulling out hair time. Joy. Also, a big THANK YOU to the wonderful reviewers of this story, both old and new. :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 13<p>

There was a blinding light that I saw beneath my eyelids.

Then: gunshots.

My eyes flew open, and I stared into the face of…

"Takechi Henpeita," I groaned. _The Kiheitai was here._

He stared into my eyes, two inches away from my face. "…I'm not a lolicon, I'm a feminist."

I resisted the urge to spit in his face. "Please get me out of these chains, Takechi Henpeita-dono," I enunciated. "Where's Takasugi?"

"Here." I saw from the corner of my eye, Takasugi standing over what looked like Sebastian's crumpled figure. "Do you want to finish him off?" His sword was a gleaming red.

I swallowed hard and had to look away as Takechi undid my chains. "…I want to talk to him first."

_Maybe if we just talked…he'd understand where I stand._

Takasugi shrugged in a 'suit yourself' gesture. I hopped off the bed and, after calming Nami down, bent towards Sebastian. He was pale, with a line of blood trickling down his chest. Unused to see him so weak, I swallowed as I knelt across from him. Takasugi had purposefully missed his heart but punctured one of his lungs, immobilizing him.

"Sebastian," I started, ignoring the hateful look I received, "I know what I did was unforgiveable, and I don't expect you to forgive me. However, as selfish as it may be, I want you to look at it from my perspective as well. I was manipulated, tricked, and laughed at as a child. What I thought was my family turned out to be my family's murderers."

I looked down at my hands as I knelt parallel to his body. "I think we both did wrong to each other. You do deserve the apology that I never gave you; I regret ripping you of your family. However, I am not sorry for killing the ones who used cowardly tactics to undermine and destroy my own."

Sebastian stared at me and sighed. Finally, he smiled and started leaning towards me. "You were always horrible at apologies, Asahi…"

I sighed in relief.

"…apology rejected."

_Shit._

Immediately, yanking the dagger out of its clutch in my stomach, I eradicated Sebastian with a fluid swipe of my arm.

"Oh shit," I groaned as I rushed to my satchel, digging out bottles of herbal remedies—_it had to be here somewhere…_

_Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Stupid Kamui for making me weak. Stupid Kamui for making me let my guard down. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid._

"Was there poison in there or something?" Kijima Matako asked, swinging her revolvers around airily.

"_Yes,_ in fact," I snapped as I found the temporary remedy. "If I use this paste, I have roughly three hours left before I'm dead." Lifting my shirt, unmindful of the males in the room, I dug three fingers into the greenish paste and shoved into the deep slice across my stomach, grunting as even more pain shot up my chest.

_The poison's already moving._

"Come on, we have to move! Someone steer the ship—we have to get back before they kill Kamui!" I yelled, wrapping bandages around my stomach. It would have to do for now.

"Why should we?" Takasugi asked.

_Now is not the time to argue, stupid!_ "Why did you save _me_, then? Obviously you think Kamui's power will be wasted if he dies at this point. Let's go!"

The engine rumbled and the ship dove forward. Flung by momentum, I slammed into the wall, biting back against the pain.

Takasugi smiled smugly. "Bansai is already on it. We'll be back in an hour. Kamui's execution will take place in another hour. In that time, you will rally the seventh division and bring them into the main hall."

I rolled my eyes. "Then why'd you waste time before arguing with me?"

"Because it's fun to see you in pain."

"Turd, I already have one foot in the grave at this point," I reminded him easily, ignoring the rushing sense of pain crawling towards my legs and up my chest. _As long as Kamui's safe, everything will be worth it._

He laughed.

Rallying the squad was no easy business.

Destroying the guard battalions of the security control room and letting the squad through was easy, but already the news of my betrayal was common knowledge within the seventh division.

Abuto glared at me. "I can't forgive you for hurting Captain like that."

The others mirrored his accusing stare.

I checked the watch on my wrist hurriedly. Thirty minutes of me trying to persuade them to follow my (and Takasugi's) plan was wasted at this point, and my arms were starting to become numb. _I'm running out of time. The poison must be spreading faster._

"Good, don't forgive me. I never expected you to forgive me," I said angrily, "but we all have something in common. We all want to save Kamui, right?"

"You didn't seem like it," someone—his face was familiar but I couldn't remember what his name was—scoffed.

The pangs in my head were making my vision blur, and I struggled to form words properly. "He's…g—going to die if…we don't help him." I swallowed, shaking my head to rid my ears of the ringing.

"Hold on—Asahi?" Hands gripped my shoulders and shook them firmly. "Are you poisoned?—Oh God, Abuto, she's poisoned. It's lethal, I can see it in her eyes. She's starting to fade out, she—"

_Stop talking. It hurts._

I shook myself free, forcing my feet to move themselves. "If you…aren't going to save him…I will."

"Wait—Asahi! Here, give it to me—" Vaguely feeling something jerk my body and cup my mouth, I let something cool trickle down my throat.

The ringing stopped and my head instantly grew clearer. I recognized the face in front of me. "…Teru?"

She smiled, relieved. "I got this from Hiyori. It's her emergency cure-all. It won't be able to stop the poison, but it'll dull the effects for now."

Hiyori pushed her way forward. "One last thing, Meiru. Can you tell me what poison you were dosed with?"

I gave her the name quickly, jittery on my feet. _I have to go. I have to go. I have to go._

"All right. Good luck, and hurry!"

I nodded, gripping my daggers in my hands. "Come on, Nami!" I whistled for her to come and leapt atop her furry back.

"_Rescue Captain Kamui!"_

The next moments were a myriad blur of red, white, green, black, black, black, black…

I slashed left and right blindly, relying on my instincts to dive, roll, and parry. I had sent Nami to hide in safety a while earlier.

The main hall was chaos. Takasugi had released Kamui from his bonds and the seventh division, was already overpowering the others. Of course, Takasugi and Kamui were the most beautiful of the fighters, their strokes fluid and sure.

I didn't have a chance to admire them, after receiving several choice wounds and bulletholes due to the lack of sanity plaguing my brain.

The fight ended when the control room with the Admiral blew up in flames.

I couldn't help smiling dazedly, even as the cold stare from Kamui seemed to pierce my lungs, making me unable to breathe. Anything from Kamui was good enough, at this point.

There was no more feeling in my arms and legs. I was completely numb, held up by the wall I was leaning on and my sheer will alone.

"You're quite daring to have come back, begging me to take you in with your tail between your legs," Kamui remarked coolly. Takasugi stood aside, observing us with an air of amusement.

"…Let's play a game," I offered dimly, distantly hoping he didn't see the odd pallor in my cheeks, or the sweat gleaning on my forehead. "If you win, you can do anything to me—kill me, even."

"And if you win?" Thank goodness he was being cooperative. The chance to kill me must have been so enticing.

_I want to tell him the truth… Just before I have to let go. There's no more fear of rejection now._

"I want you to believe that I love you." I took his heavy silence as an affirmative. "Turn around," I commanded as I fought for a new surge of strength in my voice, straightening my back, squaring my shoulders. My vision was fading away, the ringing in my ears and my head becoming louder, louder, _louder_…

"On the count of three."

_One…_

_Two…_

_Three._

The ground fell out from under me. I didn't feel the pain as my head collided with the ground. I didn't hear the screams, the yells, the pleading.

Weakly, I let the last few words I had float out of my mouth before my tongue dried up completely. "_You win._"

_It was fun._

* * *

><p><strong>R E V I E W<strong>

**and share the love. ^_^**


	14. Chapter 14

**Late because I was procrastinating, but hey: it's here! Just in time for the holidays. Merry Christmas, everyone, or if you don't celebrate it...Happy Holidays! =)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 14<p>

(Kamui's POV)

_No. Not her. NOT HER._

I cradled her limp, skinny body in my arms, horrified at how lifeless she felt. I placed my ear near her chest, looking for any trace of life still left in her.

_Good_. Her heart was still beating. It was faint, but it was there.

That was all that mattered.

"Hiyori!" I shouted frantically, my voice cracking under pressure. "Someone get Asakusa Hiyori! _Teru!_ _Abuto!_"

Dammit. Dammit dammit _dammit_!

When I saw her bursting through the main hall doors atop Nami, I was caught between a mixture of happiness and anger. Happy, that she'd came back, and angry, that she'd left me in the first place.

Now she saved me. She saved me, the blithering idiot she was, and was going to leave again. Forever.

_Not if I have a hand in it._

_God._ I clutched her close, kissing her furiously. "Don't leave me. I _command_ you not to leave me here, Asahi. As your husband, I command you. _Don't leave me alone._"

A hand gently brushed me out of the way. "Captain, this is urgent business. Please stand back."

'_You win'? Was that really what I wanted to hear from Asahi, as her last words? No. Not her last words. She wasn't dying, not yet not yet not yet—_

I could only watch numbly as I saw Hiyori peel away each layer of clothing. I stared furiously at the long, jagged slice across her stomach, and the bullet holes, and the blood painting her white body red.

"He poisoned her."

I looked up wordlessly from my seat on the ground. Normally I would never sit so comfortably next to an enemy, but I had a debt to repay to Takasugi Shinsuke anyway.

At this point I didn't care much about dying. At least I wouldn't be left behind again.

"Sebastian used a lethal dose of a poison called Nightshade," the bastard explained. "Numbs every part of your body slowly and is apparently extremely agonizing."

"How long?" I asked quietly, my eyes glued to Asahi's still body.

"With the paste she already had, three hours. Apparently your healer girl gave her a numbing potion to remedy the effects when she only had an hour left."

_Fuck._ "Is he dead?"

Takasugi glanced down at me. "Who?"

"You know who I'm talking about," I answered shortly.

Asahi's chest gave a visible heave, and I swallowed hard.

_Don't die on me._

"Yeah. She finished him off."

A strange sense of pride swelled up in my chest. "Good." _You win, Asahi, you win._ Somehow the words didn't seem hard in my mouth.

They tasted sweet. Like candy.

_You win._

I seemed to have sat there for hours, just watching Teru and Hiyori blankly as they scurried around her. Seeing it, but not registering it. I just sat and thought, rolling the two words around my mouth and savoring the unfamiliar taste.

Teru drew me out of my thoughts as she came to me, holding a bucket of water, towels, and bandages. "Come on, Captain. Help me patch her up."

Wordlessly, I stood and knelt next to my wife. "How is she?"

Hiyori wiped the sweat off her face. "Managed to pull her back just in time and remove most of the poison from her body. I created an antidote that she'll have to drink." She held up a bowl of some murky brown stuff that I didn't care for.

Taking the bowl from her, I lifted Asahi's head up. "Come on, Asahi, bottoms up."

She didn't reply, and I furrowed my brow worriedly. Teru pursed her lips. "She was on the brink of death, Captain, don't expect her to jump up and do an Irish jig."

Hiyori rubbed her chin. "I suppose we can try and funnel the liquid down her throat…"

"No need." Ignoring Hiyori's flabbergasted look, I tipped the contents of the bowl into my mouth. _Disgusting._ Holding my breath, I leaned down and administered the antidote to her, forcing her to swallow it down.

"Oh great," Teru moaned in the background. "I didn't know you were such a clichéd romantic, Captain."

I didn't mind her, focusing only on the woman before me. My woman.

_She's alive._

Asahi coughed and choked as she gulped the offending juice down, but I was inwardly relieved. At least she didn't look like she was a corpse now.

Her eyes fluttered open. She didn't say anything at first, only gazing up at me solemnly before turning her head towards Hiyori. "I guess I'm indebted to you now. Thanks, Asakusa."

Hiyori flushed a deep red. "A-All in the line of duty."

I took Asahi's hand, reminding her of my presence.

"Kamui…"

_Ahh._

There was the voice I'd been dreaming about for days and nights. That voice, breathing my name. That sheepish, wry smile, though the image was slightly ruined by her chapped, swollen, and bleeding lips. Oh, and the black eye, among the other wounds she received.

I kissed them anyway before turning serious. "I'm not forgiving you, you know."

The corners of her mouth turned down into a frown. "…All right," she said.

_You little idiot._

"…I'm punishing you for that." Holding up her left hand, her fourth finger wearing the ring I gave her, I announced, "Your verdict is a life sentence. You're mine forever."

A soft giggle slipped out of her mouth as she pressed my palm to her lips, kissing it gently. "On my life, my husband."

An inexplicably warm feeling blew up in my chest, and I swallowed hard. "You're a Yato now, and you aren't allowed to associate with any other male besides me _except_ with my explicit permission. You can do whatever you want when we're alone, but I'm not going to let you wear the pants in this relationship." I needed to make sure.

"Just one thing…."

I straightened subconsciously, preparing myself, predicting what was to come.

"…are you saying I can't associate with my future son?"

When her words clicked inside my brain, I couldn't help smiling. For real.

"Let me revise my words: _you are not allowed to associate with any male outside of the family if you don't have my explicit permission._"

"On my life, Kamui," she whispered. "On my life."

I took a deep breath. "Okay. Then…" I swallowed hard as I let the words come out. "I guess you can win this time around."

She smiled.

Yup. Just like candy.

* * *

><p><strong>So...I have a question for you guys... Continue? No continue? Epilogue? No epilogue? Whatchu want?<strong>

**Leave a review or PM me and let me know! ^_^ Thanks for keeping up with me on this.**


	15. Epilogue

**Suffice to say that I felt bad for abandoning this series without an epilogue. Here's a short peek into their life about three years-ish later.**

**Oh, and WARNING(?): kinda on the smutty side.**

**Enjoy and remember to send a review my way!**

* * *

><p><strong>Epilogue<strong>

I awoke in the warm embrace of the late morning sunlight, caressing my bare body gently. Yawning, I stretched and sat up in the large bed, my hair tousled from last night's activities…

From the heap of clothes strewn at the door to the once again broken headboard, there was no doubt about what had gone on.

The spot where Kamui's body had lain was now empty, but still warm. I lifted my eyes to rest on his bare back as he leaned over the white crib at the other end of the room. His hair was freshly braided, and he was murmuring something, completely comfortable traipsing around naked.

Then again, it was just us in the house…

…scratch that, us and our daughter.

Our daughter: Mami, my adorable baby girl, the light of my life, the apple of my eye. Well, one of my apples—Riku, our eldest and our only son thus far, was sleeping in the adjacent room, but he slept like an elephant, so there was no need to worry about waking him up with our…noise.

Smiling, I crept out of bed in an attempt to sneak up on my husband, snaking my arms around his waist and leaning on him, pressing my body against his gently. I heard him smile and shift so that I could peek over the crib too.

Arm protectively around my waist, Kamui watched as I tucked our precious child in, swaddling him in a soft white blanket. "You know…" His voice was delightfully husky as he leaned into my neck, breathing in my scent. "…I always thought that you were pretty, but you're the most beautiful when you're in mommy mode."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really."

"Uh-huh." Kamui's mouth quirked upwards as he grinned mischievously. "That, or when you're screaming my name beneath me."

Even after a year of marriage, he still had a way of making me redden from head to toe. "Not in front of Mami," I rebuked him, poking him in the bicep.

He nudged me playfully back. "That's only when she's older, and even then, I'm not going to stop."

"You're an incorrigible tease."

"Thank you very much, wife."

Wrenching myself from his grasp, I sniffed and turned, pretending to be upset. "If you keep acting like that, you'll regret it!"

"Regret it?" His voice had that rough quality to it again, making my spine tingle. I snuck a peek behind me, and was pleased to see that his eyes had darkened with hunger. "I'd like to test that theory."

With a simpering smile, I danced out of his arms and across the room, happily watching his irritation increase exponentially. "Let's play a game?"

A dark smile broke out onto his face. "Now _you're_ going to be the one to regret it."

I shook my head, still laughing with mirth as I wrapped a blanket around my body. No doubt it would be ripped to shreds later on, but I didn't care.

"Catch me if you can."


	16. Update

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to drop a quick A/N to let you guys know that I have posted another KamuixOC! YIPPEE! I'm switching between titles at the moment, but if you go onto my profile, you will see the story. :) One chapter is up; it's rather rough at the moment, but I plan on sharpening it later.

If you're interested, please head on over and give me some feedback.

**Please do not review on this chapter as it is an author's note.** I feel that it would be a misrepresentation of the story if I got reviews for a note that wasn't even part of LPAG. However, there's nothing stopping you from reviewing on my newest fanfiction! ;) wink wink hint hint hint

As always, thank you for supporting me and reading.

Fallaby


End file.
